When I was a little girl, downtown Boston was kind of a mess. I remember every time my dad would drive our family to the airport, we had to go a slightly different route because the Big Dig kept changing which streets were open. Though I don't remember what it was like before that maze of construction, my parents and grandparents always remind me that the highway used to run through downtown, not below it.
With the Big Dig complete, not only did the city of Boston finally get a commute free of construction vehicles at every turn, but we also got one of the most beautiful public spaces imaginable, The Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway (the Greenway, for short).
If you've been reading Pop.Bop.Shop. for a while, then you already know how much I love the Greenway. When I was working on Broad Street I loved to go have lunch there, enjoy the food trucks (and the free wifi), watch people doing fitness bootcamps together, see kids splashing in the fountains and take home goodies from the farmer's markets. And don't even get me started on my obsession with the Greenway's carousel.
Just when you thought the Greenway couldn't get any more awesome, this month they've added an incredible work of art by Brookline artist Janet Echelman. According to a statement issued by the Greenway, Echelman is "a recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship and was named an Architectural Digest Innovator for 'changing the very essence of urban spaces.' Her work was ranked #1 on Oprah Magazine's 'List of 50 Things that Make You Say Wow!' and she received the 2014 Smithsonian American Ingenuity Award in Visual Arts."
This new work is "inspired by the transformation of the city's waterfront following the Big Dig and Echelman's early inspiration for her work - fisherman's nets in Bali."
Check out this very cool time-lapse video of the installation:
It took six cranes, over 50 laborers and more than 15 hours to lift the piece into position. The sculpture hangs from three skyscrapers along the Greenway and is suspended 360 feet in the air.
Everyone who walks by or under the new Echelman sculpture is in total awe. Mostly because they are wondering, "How did they ever get that up there?" Well, here are some stats on the making of this new, jaw-dropping piece:
- The sculpture includes over 100 miles of twine
- There are over half a million knots (roughly 542,500)
- The sculpture weighs approximately one ton
- The longest span is 600 feet
- The piece is illuminated by 32 individually programmed LED lights
- In total, the sculpture covers almost half an acre
I don't know about you, but I am tired just thinking about all that!
Now that the installation is soaring above the Greenway, we can enjoy it all summer long. It's schedule to remain in place until October 2015.
Have you seen the Echelman sculpture in person? What do you think?
*Photos courtesy of Melissa Henry for Studio Echelman.
