'Virlane Tower' by Kenneth Snelson - New Orleans, LA
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N 29° 59.197 W 090° 05.678
15R E 780314 N 3320856
'Virlane Tower' is a stainless steel sculpture by artist Kenneth Snelson located at the Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden within New Orleans City Park, Louisiana.
Waymark Code: WM1283N
Location: Louisiana, United States
Date Posted: 03/25/2020
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At 45 feet high, the Virlane Tower is the largest sculpture in the Besthoff Garden. Composed of stainless steel tubes, the whole tower is held together and supported by cables, instead of by bolts or welding. The delicate soaring sculpture seems to defy gravity. It is based on what the artist termed “floating compression,” the force created by tension and compression. Snelson combined steel wires and rods, put together in such a way so that each piece is vital to the integrity of the structure as a whole. This gives the appearance that the steel rods are magically suspended in mid-air, when in reality, the wires and rods work together to form a very stable whole and make the invisible visible by portraying the patterns of physical force in space.
Kenneth Snelson began his artistic career as a student of painting and drawing. His interests changed, however, after studying alongside the architect Buckminster Fuller, the developer of the geodesic dome. Fuller’s theories of structural design helped Snelson turn from painting to sculpture. He added engineering to his studies in order to better understand Fuller’s pioneering concepts and the physics of his complex structures.
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