NEW YORK—By day, Madison Square Park is a pleasant oasis. At night, an illuminated sphere has turned the public space into a curiosity more fascinating than the park’s popular Shake Shack. Every evening, “Buckyball, a new site-specific art installation by Leo Villareal, offers visitors an electric light theater experience complete with a ring of wood loungers on which to lay back, relax and take in the mesmerizing experience.
“Buckyball” is on view from Oct. 25 to Feb. 1, 2013 (update: recently extended to Feb. 15).
All photos © Arts Observer
Detail of “Buckyball.”
A site-specific installation, “Buckyball” stands 30-feet tall. The sculpture features two nested spheres composed of 180 LED tubes.
The linear tubes that form the sculpture “are arranged in a series of pentagons and hexagons.
Concepts of geometric and mathematical relationships were drawn upon to create the spheres.
Installation view.
“Individual pixels located every 1.2 inches along the tubes are each capable of displaying 16 million distinct colors.”
The ever-changing color display is programmed by software created by the artist.
Detail of Buckyball.