Noted Massachusetts artist Janet Echelman has received a $100,000 commission from the Denver Office of Cultural Affairs to create a massive outdoor installation in conjunction with the month-long Biennial of the Americas in July.
The netted aerial piece, inspired by the February earthquake in Chile, will be suspended between the tops of the Greek Amphitheatre in Civic Center and the original building of the Denver Art Museum. The sculpture will be woven of a super-strong, lightweight material known as Spectra fiber and incorporate 250,000 knots and 500,000 sections of yarn. It is designed to withstand wind gusts of up to 90 mph.
The work’s shape is a three-dimensional representation of the quake-caused tsunami, based on data from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The title, “1.26,” refers to the quake’s effect on the Earth’s rotation, shortening the length of a day by 1.26 microseconds. Kyle MacMillan, The Denver Post
