Feature Details

Name: Origin

Description: Origin is a sculptural installation located in the museum’s lower level south atrium. The artwork explores the relationship between art and technology, and celebrates the earth’s basic natural resources as the foundation of technological innovation. Origin is comprised of several integral elements. A gilded, nine-foot diameter tower rises 45’ from the lower level’s terrazzo floor. The terrazzo floor design, which can easily be seen from the upper levels and the staircase as one descends, is derived from the pattern of an early integrated circuit. Natural granite boulders placed within the floor space provide informal seating. Upon further exploration the viewer looks up to a suspended tree-root system covered in gold leaf. An elegant spectrum of ever unfolding colored lights play across the interior surfaces of the tower and interact with the suspended gilded root system. This play of light patterns is the result of a solar light sculpture at the roof level which gathers sunlight and projects it through a series of mirrors to an imaging mechanism inside the tower.