Expansion and Contraction: Climbing

I am seeking inspiration for 3 art focused projects. My theme is expansion and contraction with a climbing/rock/mountain center. 2 projects are inside and 1 is outside.

I'm not in search of ideas for the projects but rather every example of expansion and contraction in/with/pertaining to climbing. I ask you all because I am just one point of view out of many. I don't know or see everything.

So...

with climbing in mind what does expansion mean to you? What have you experienced, seen or heard that would fall under "expansion"?

With climbing in mind what does contraction mean to you? What have you experienced, seen or heard?

Example for contraction via me: bouldering
Example for expansion via me: multipitch trad

There is no right or wrong. I'm curious where, if at all (maybe you don't see it this way?), you see or experience expansion and contraction with climbing?

If climbing isn't expansion and contraction for you then what is it? How do you see/think/experience this PROCESS we call climbing?

Thanks for your time, I'm always excited to hear how/if others see/approach something.

When i read your post, I immediately went to the idea of the expansion and contraction of time. The funny condition where hours of effort contract into a very short seeming experience. Or on the flip side, where seconds/minutes expand into what seems to be an eternity.

Might be an interesting direction to explore.

Fucking love it Jesse! Thanks. I had never seen it that way. Mind blowingly cool. Thanks again!

To me, expansion and contraction is all about cams: that's what they do!

Also: the freeze/thaw cycle of water is expansion/contraction, and it is what creates a lot of the weaknesses in the rock that let us climb it.

Expansion - cams...they don't actually move much when you fall on them, but I picture them in my head flexing open, even distorting the rock around them (like Neo in the Matrix, his flexing bending space and sending out a ripple).

Contraction - rope sheath...nice relaxed weave of fibers, but in a fall it draws tight, each fiber straining against the force of the plummeting climber

For contraction I think of the constricting sensations you get as the fear creeps up on you and brings doubt into your mind and seems to literally squeeze the life out of you. Expansion relates to that effort to constantly breath and maintain your cool, plus that explosion of glee when you commit to a crux and finally make it to the much desired rest hold.

When I read your post I thought of an onsight attempt.

A general breakdown on the ground working out sequences and spotting weaknesses to exploit on the route. This process is your expansion.

When on route, it is the nuances that are so important (contraction)...drop your knee, turn your foot, keep the core tight, breathe, lock the thumb down...the constant adjusting to all the little nuances that make the route go.