With the weather heating up, we're turning our attention to the artists and designers taking their installations outside for the summer months. The great outdoors is becoming a hotspot for creatives embracing the challenge to go bigger and better with their work, inspiring experimentation with the environment and materials. From a paper bridge in the middle of the Lake District, a mountain of plywood in the dry Nevada desert or gallons of florescent paint on a Manhattan poolside, we explore the most imposing outdoor spectacles on show this season…
As If It Were Already Here, Boston, USA
Janet Echelman's giant aerial sculpture soars 365 feet in the air above the Fort Point Channel Parks in downtown Boston. Spanning over 100 miles of fibrous rope - a material said to be 15 times stronger than steel and yet incredibly lightweight - the installation is part spider's web, part bubble, part fishing net.
Writer: Sam Rogers. Photography: Melissa Henry
As If It Were Already Here, Boston, USA
The polyester twine and polyethylene ropes - chosen for their elasticity, movement and strength - make it appear at times as though a giant spider has woven a web of sorts between the city's buildings. At other times it looks more like a fisherman's net, anchored downtown. The colourful hues of the swaying threads mean it also resembles a bubble though, vivid with the play of soap and light.
Writer: Sam Rogers. Photography: Melissa Henry
As If It Were Already Here, Boston, USA
The artwork incorporates 'dynamic light elements' which react to the wind; sensors register movement and tension, manifesting data into the colour of light projected onto the sculpture's surface. Echelman is known for her billowing, reactive sculptures and has previously created major installations in Amsterdam, Sydney, Vancouver and Singapore, as well as American cities like Phoenix and Denver. This latest commission will remain in place until October 2015 and forms part of the Greenway Conservancy's public art programme.
Writer: Sam Rogers. Photography: Melissa Henry
The Infinite Bridge for Sculpture by the Sea, Aarhus, Denmark
Those craving a coastal adventure will want to visit Denmark’s international biennale, Sculpture by the Sea near Aarhus. It is here that the Danish practice of Gjøde & Povlsgaard Arkitekter have created their ‘Infinite Bridge’, an impressive ring-like structure that spans 60 meters in diameter; half at sea and half on land. Although arguably best seen from above – deftly captured by Aarhus Billeder here – the concept of infinity is intelligible from the ground.
Writer: Sam Rogers. Photography: Aarhus Billeder
The Infinite Bridge for Sculpture by the Sea, Aarhus, Denmark
The structural sculpture is ‘all about experiencing the surroundings and becoming aware of the relation between the city and the magnificent landscape of the bay,’ explains Johan Gjøde, partner and co-founder of Gjøde & Povlsgaard Arkitekter. ‘Walking on the bridge you experience the changing landscape as an endless panoramic composition. At the same time you enter a space of social interaction with other people experiencing the same panorama.’
Writer: Sam Rogers
