Based on new technologies for adaptive building skins, Emergent Surface is a wall that continuously and autonomously reconfigures itself in real time--portions selectively disappearing and reappearing. In one condition, the piece appears as a solid surface with three-dimensional curvature that divides and informs the gallery, reflecting the light and color around it. As the doubly-curved wall is viewed from different positions its aspect changes, sometimes appearing relatively flat, at other times taking on a twisted profile. In another condition, it resolves itself into seven slender poles running floor to ceiling; its minimal visual presence leaving the gallery largely open. Between these extremes lie an infinite variety of configurations.