American artist Janet Echelman's Madrid 1.8 will preside over the main square-Plaza Mayor in Madrid, the last event planned for its 4th Centenary celebrations.
The work was inspired by scientific data sets on the earthquake and tsunami that originated in Japan in 2011, and the notion that we are all interconnected with the Earth’s natural systems. Studio Echelman generated the sculpture’s 3D form using data sets on the height of the tsunami waves that rippled across the entire Pacific Ocean. The resulting vibrations momentarily accelerated the Earth’s rotation, shortening the day’s length by 1.8 microseconds, a phenomenon that became the catalyst for the sculpture.
For ten days, Plaza Mayor will host the installation Madrid 1.8 by American artist Janet Echelman. The monumental floating net sculpture is made of layers of fibre braided and knotted together. It measures 45 metres long, 35 metres wide and 21 metres high. This installation is the last of the art interventions included in the Four Seasons urban art programme that was held throughout 2017 to celebrate Plaza Mayor’s 4th Centenary.
Janet Echelman, an artist who was born in Tampa, is a leading figure in international urban art and her installations can be found in prominent urban spaces in the United States such as the Smithsonian Art Museum, San Francisco International Airport, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation campus in Seattle, and downtown Phoenix. The work to be displayed in Madrid will kick off a new cultural programme in Plaza Mayor that will be held throughout 2018, carrying on the vital legacy of the