Supervised by artists and built by about a dozen rock climbers, an installation in the form of a labyrinthine jungle of bamboo was rising some 25 feet in the air.
The Met has long been a place where the flowerings of different centuries and cultures quietly coexist, an orderly home of Apollonian calm. But the installation, “Big Bambú: You Can’t, You Don’t, and You Won’t Stop,” is a startling departure. Where once there were uninterrupted vistas of the city’s skyline and Central Park, there are now thickets and elevated walkways winding through them.
It’s the creation of Doug and Mike Starn, the 48-year-old identical-twin artists perhaps better known for painterly photographs than installations. And while “Big Bambú” may seem liked a finished installation when it opens on Tuesday, it is a perpetual work in progress. Throughout the summer the public will be able to witness its metamorphosis as the rock climbers — sans music — continually add to the work until it forms a cresting wave covering an area 100 by 50 feet and soaring 50 feet above the roof.
Museum officials estimate that some 400,000 people (depending on weather) will see “Big Bambú” before it is dismantled at the end of October.
From the New York Times, april 23rd 2010
Bamboo Installation. New York Times.com
No comments:
Post a Comment