Needle Tower
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Needle Tower is a public artwork by American sculptor Kenneth Snelson located outside of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, DC, United States.[1]
Contents
Description
This very tall abstract sculpture is a tapering tower that is made of aluminum and stainless steel.[1] The aluminum tubes push, held together by the stainless steel wire threaded through in the ends of the tubes.[2]
Acquisition
The piece was a gift of Joseph Hirshhorn in 1974.[1]
Tensegrity
Snelson's unique sculpture style is well articulated in "Needle Tower".
The structure style displayed is known as "tensegrity," a description given by Snelson's former professor Buckminster Fuller to the melding of tension and structural integrity. According to Snelson:
Tensegrity describes a closed structural system composed of a set of three or more elongate compression struts within a network of tension tendons, the combined parts mutually supportive in such a way that the struts do not touch one another, but press outwardly against nodal points in the tension network to form a firm, triangulated, prestressed, tension and compression unit.[3]
Symbolism
Much has been said about the geometric shapes seen in Snelson's works. Looking up from the inside of "Needle Tower" one may see the Star of David. According to Snelson, his works are not symbolic and it's common to see six-pointed stars in his work. In "Needle Tower" the six pointedness comes from the natural geometry of the three compression struts that make up each layer. Sets of three alternate with left and right helical modules, adding up to six when viewed upwards from the base of the tower.[3]
Conservation
In April 2010 conservation work was completed on the sculpture by the Hirshhorn Museum. It took 15 staff members to stand the tower upright after conservation completion.[4]
Needle Tower II
A second Needle Tower, Needle Tower II, was completed in 1968 and was acquired by the Kröller-Müller Museum in 1971. The piece resides in the museum's sculpture garden.[5]
Gallery
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Needle Tower Detail.jpg
Detail
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Needle Tower Label.jpg
Label
See also
References
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<references />, or <references group="..." />External links
- Curious Skeletons by NASA
- "Needle Tower" on CMU 3rd Year Studio
- Hirshhorn's collection entry
- Installation video by the Hirshhorn of the sculpture being lifted upright
- Metal Sculpture by Kenneth Snelson on Mathematical paintings and sculptures
- "Needle Tower" assembly animation by Snelson
- "Needle Tower" on Kenneth Snelson's website
- "Needle Tower" on Grunch Net
- Waymarking Entry for "Needle Tower"
- "Tensegrities" Jan Marcus
- "Tensegrity" Scholarpedia article
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ A Garden for Art, Valerie J. Fletcher, LOC # 97-61991, p.85
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Acquisitions of Modern Art by Museums: Supplement. The Burlington Magazine Publications, Ltd., Feb. 1971, p 119.
- Pages with broken file links
- Pages with reference errors
- Pages using infobox artwork with autolinked artist field
- Use dmy dates from February 2011
- Helices
- 1968 sculptures
- Artifacts in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution
- Outdoor sculptures in Washington, D.C.
- Star symbols
- Aluminium sculptures in Washington, D.C.
- Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
