Mirage is a new public sculpture by the artist Katie Paterson and the architects Zeller & Moye. Set amidst the landscaping that surrounds Apple Park in Cupertino, it consists of over four hundred glass columns snaking through the olive grove that surrounds the HQ’s visitor centre.
Christoph Zeller and Ingrid Moye teamed up with the Scottish artist Katie Paterson to create the piece, using cylinders of pure cast glass made from sands ‘collected from deserts across the Earth.’
Depending on the location and consistency of the sand, each desert generated a set of unique colours and textures. Structural engineering is by Eckersley O’Callaghan, a UK-based firm that has a long history of working alongside Apple on its architectural projects.
The result is an installation that crystallises the variety and scope of these habitats into a singular space. As the artist’s notes describe, ‘together the columns combine the world’s deserts transformed into liquid-like material, flowing like a dune shaped by the wind’.
The process of collecting the sand was undertaken in partnership with Unesco, geologists and the regional communities that live in these places, and to walk through it one is moved to think of taking a trip around the world's many desert ecosystems.
Such a vast array of translucent material creates a very dynamic environment, as the light shifts throughout the day and emphasises different parts of the snaking structure. ‘Mirage creates an experience of being enveloped by Earth’s sublime spaces,’ says Paterson. ‘Each piece of glass is a portal to otherworldly landscapes. Our hope is that Mirage creates a sensory experience that will ignite the imagination, connect visitors to the vastness of the Earth, and its precious wilderness.’
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