Client: Jim Campbell
Location: Des Moines, IA, United States
Completion date: 2016
Project Team
Industry Resource
Demiurge LLC
Demiurge LLC
Artist
Jim Campbell
Client
White Light Inc.
White Light Inc.
Industry Resource
Arup Engineering
Arup Engineering
Public Art Agent
Des Monies Performing Arts
Des Monies Performing Arts
Overview
Swirl is located at Cowles Commons (formerly Nollen Plaza), spanning nearly a hundred feet in length and thirty feet in both width and height. The overall structure is comprised of 18 stainless steel and polycarbonate elliptical rings, laced with more than 8,000 precisely placed LEDs, suspended up to 30′ in the air by a series of nine parabolically curved high strength stainless steel columns. Congruent with Campbell’s most well known works these LEDs are used to produce and display low-resolution video of runners from the Des Moines Marathon, circling laps around the sculpture’s form.
Goals
Des Moines Performing Arts opened Cowles Commons this past June [2015] after a $12 million dollar redesign and renovation project that started with a design charrette and public workshops in 2008, followed by construction that began in fall 2013.
Process
In addition to working with Jim Campbell and his San Francisco based studio, White Light Inc. Demiurge worked with a number of consultants, contractors and engineers through multiple phases of design development, fabrication and installation to ultimately achieve the goals and aesthetic vision set out by the artist.
Additional Information
Parametric modeling was instrumental in generating the high degree of customization required to complete Swirl. Each of the 18 ellipses requires 18 connector arms, each of which has a unique length in order to attach it to the uprights and semi-uprights. Parametric software was also required to optimize the parabolic curves into arc segments and to generate numerous catalogues of data showing the locations of LED holes and acrylic connection locations.