This week the Greensboro Science Center (GSC) is installing a 70-foot-long, 32-foot-high sculpture that will arch over the circular driveway in front of the building.

The sculpture is being installed by artist David Hess of Baltimore, who was selected by the Public Art Endowment to create the sculpture for GSC.  It took Hess seven months of design and 11 months of fabrication to create the sculpture being put in place this week.

In explaining his inspiration Hess said in the press release, “Our perception of time and space is continually changing.  As a species, humans have always been motivated by our sense of wonder.  Using the paradigms of Art and Science, we navigate the great mysteries of our existence.”

He added, “Similarly, our study of science, enables us to imagine the immense duration of billions of years of Geologic Time and the fleeting nature of a nano-second.  We reside somewhere on this time continuum, between the permanent and the ephemeral.  Places like the Greensboro Science Center remind us that we are here at this moment, at this place, only once.”

Margaret Benjamin, chair of the Public Art Endowment Steering Committee, said, “The intention of this unique collaboration between GSC and the PAE was meant to highlight how art and science are intertwined, a symbiotic relationship that has produced some of the most exciting, thought-provoking, and visually pleasing sculpture in the world today.  David Hess’ sculpture Relativity is intended to engage viewers’ imaginations and symbolize a spirit of discovery and learning.”

Most of the public art in Greensboro centers around the downtown area, but this project by PAE and GSC is an effort to spread the influence of public art to other areas and populations of Greensboro.  It also marks the significance of the Battleground Park District the central role of GSC in the revitalization effort.

 

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