The usual method for descending a staircase is one step at a time.

Occasionally, one might get in a hurry and skip a step or two, especially at the end.

The most daring approach is to jump straight to the bottom, making a flight of stairs really live up to its name.

These are not the only choices.

There are many others.

In this particular case, there are ten stairs.

Allowing only downward movement and the freedom to skip any number of steps, the piece of art on each stair indicates the following: the number of future choice possibilities vs the number of declined paths; a color-coded guide for jumping to another step; your current position on a map of choices; and the final velocity your body will be traveling at the moment of landing.

Stairfall can be used as a guide for planning a trip down the stairs.

Even better, it can be used to visualize all possible trips down the stairs.

Since tripping or really even jumping down stairs is not always safe, sometimes it’s nice to see how much complexity there can be in something routine.

Stairfall is a set of eleven 20″ x 10″ panels designed for the Candoro Marble Building staircase. It will be on display through 25 January 2025.

You may wonder if this piece addresses the same idea as rana viam. It does!