Since May, an ethereal sculpture has seemed to float over Boston’s Rose Kennedy Greenway. It spans the space, where an elevated highway once separated the waterfront from the city’s downtown region, and hovers some 600 feet overhead.
The title of this sculpture is As If It Were Already Here, and it was created for the city’s public art program by sculptor Janet Echelman. She used a special, lightweight twine that has a strength 15 times that of steel, yet sways and ripples gently in the slightest breeze.
The monumental installation is an interpretation of and homage to Boston’s history, as well as its progress.
Draped over three skyscrapers, it symbolizes the interconnectedness, adaptability, and strength of the city and its people.
It also shows how everything affects everything else. “When any one of its elements moves, every other element is affected,” Echelman explains. “It is a physical manifestation of interconnectedness and strength through resiliency.”
The sculpture also appears different based on the light. During the day, it almost blends into the sky.
But at night, it glows.
Attached to the surrounding skyscrapers 600 feet in the air, As If It Were Already Here was created using some 500,000 knots, mostly done by hand. And although it looks like a piece of lace floating above the city, in reality, the sculpture weighs in at about 1,000 pounds. It also glows with its own light, thanks to light and tension sensors.
Depending on where you are, the sculpture changes shape.
Echelman says that her installation’s shape- and color-changing properties are to inspire people to try and see it from different angles, and thus explore this area of the city.
It changes colors based on motion and tension.
Installing such a large sculpture is not easy.
In all, the sculpture uses 100 miles of twine and reaches 600 feet at its widest point. It spans about half an acre, or 20,250 square feet.
As If It Were Already Here will be on display through October 2015 in the Rose Kennedy Greenway in Boston, and visitors are encouraged to check it out from different angles and vantage points, whether strolling through the park or lying in the grass.
You can also see more of Echelman’s work on her website.
