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Janet Echelman completes rippling sculpture in Riyadh informed by earthquake and tsunami data

2024-01-12T13:52:00-05:00

Janet Echelman has completed a sculpture in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, as part of the artist’s Earthtime series.

Named Earthtime 1.26 Riyadh, and installed in the city’s Wadi Namar in December 2023 for the Noor Riyadh light art festival, the sculpture “celebrates the interconnection of sky and earth, flexibility and strength, humans and our physical world, bridging opposites with bold colors and soft curves,” according to the artist.

Image credit: Janet Echelman

Image credit: Ahmed Hasan

The sculpture is composed of knotted fibers, and designed so that as a single knot moves in the wind, the location of every other knot in the sculpture’s surface is changed in what the artist describes as “an ever-unfolding dance of human-made creation with the forces of nature beyond our control.” The custom-engineered fibers are fifteen times stronger than steel by weight and were knotted and spliced with the help of centuries-old craft techniques.

Image credit: Janet Echelman

Image credit: Janet Echelma...

Janet Echelman’s 229-foot-long floating Current installation debuts in Columbus, Ohio

2023-06-07T18:38:00-04:00

Artist Janet Echelman’s soft-fiber Current installation premiered over the weekend in Columbus, Ohio, adding the city to a list of others to have showcased her experiments with site-specific sculptures and computational design since 2009.

Stretching to a total of 126 feet at its zenith, the 229-foot-long sculpture is made from 78 miles of twine strewn into more than 550,000 individual knots and cast from the facades of buildings located at the intersection of Gay and High Streets.

Current by Janet Echelman. Photo by Infinite Impact © Janet Echelman Inc.

Echelman says she “absorbed” herself in Columbus’ local history for the creation of the commission, which has seen antecedents installed in Oslo, Santiago, New York, and other major metropolises on three continents so far.

Current by Janet Echelman. Photo by Infinite Impact © Janet Echelman Inc.

She describes further: “I witnessed exceptional cooperation to achiev...

Artist Janet Echelman will transform downtown Columbus this summer with a 229-foot-long floating sculpture

2023-04-07T17:41:00-04:00

Sculptor Janet Echelman will transform the skyline of Columbus, Ohio with a newly-announced commission set to debut this June.

Her soft fiber piece, titled Current, expands on past experiments with architecture and computational design and will stretch to 126 feet at its pinnacle. The 229-foot-long sculpture is made from 78 miles of twine strewn into more than 550,000 individual knots and cast from the facades of buildings located at the intersection of Gay and High Streets.

Image courtesy Studio Echelman

Echelman says she “drew inspiration from the evolution of downtown Columbus and its role throughout history as a place of innovation and light.” Her latest commission will be the first permanent piece to be suspended over street level, following temporary installations in Munich, Santiago, New York, and two other continents.

“When I approach a new project, I start by diving into the history of the place,” Echelman said. "I became absorbed in Columbus’ historical narrative and quickl...

Check out SOM's movement-inspired collaboration with artist Janet Echelman in Munich

2021-09-16T17:32:00-04:00

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill has once again come together with American artist Janet Echelman for a site-specific sculptural installation in Munich’s historic Odeonsplatz Square.

Images courtesy of Studio Echelman

The atmospheric sculpture is in constant motion, activating the public space below while changing shape and color with the wind using a 3D data model of the earth’s floor following a powerful 2010 Chilean earthquake from which the ‘1.26’ monicker is taken.

Images courtesy of Studio Echelman

“My artwork reflects an interconnectedness of opposites — flexibility with strength, earth with sky, things we can control with the forces beyond us,” Echelman said.

Images courtesy of Studio Echelman

The sculpture is comprised of more than 361,000 individual knots formed by handmade splices of woven nylon and ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene rope fibers. The sculpture weighs 700 pounds and occupies about 3,300 square feet of total area. Its responsiveness and adaptivity represent th...

Archinect - News

Janet Echelman completes rippling sculpture in Riyadh informed by earthquake and tsunami data

Janet Echelman’s 229-foot-long floating Current installation debuts in Columbus, Ohio

Artist Janet Echelman​ will transform downtown Columbus this summer with a 229-foot-long floating sculpture

Check out SOM's movement-inspired collaboration with artist Janet Echelman in Munich

Artist Janet Echelman will transform downtown Columbus this summer with a 229-foot-long floating sculpture