Tornado Ned Kahn 2012-12-10 | WORLD FINANCIAL CENTER, BATTERY PARK CITY, NEW YORK, NEW YORK. 1990-A 10-foot tall vortex is formed by air blowers and an ultrasonic fog machine inside a sculpture installed in the atrium adjacent to the Winter Garden. The vortex continually changed shape in response to the surrounding air currents.These fluctuations gave the vortex an erratic and life-like appearance. Viewers were encouraged to alter the shape of the vortex with their hands. The calm, central core of the vortex is clearly evident.
Magnetic Field Stone Ned Kahn 2012-12-10 | EXPLORATORIUM, SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA. 1996-Inspired by traditional Japanese basin stones, this artwork uses a rotating magnet to sculpt natural magnetite sand into ever-changing spiral patterns. Viewers can run their hands through the sand and alter the pattern. The artwork was a collaboration with stone mason, Edwin Hamilton.
Fire Vortex Ned Kahn 2012-12-10 | TECHNORAMA, WINTERTHUR, SWITZERLAND. 1997-Suspended in a dark atrium of the museum, a series of fans and blowers creates a 20 foot (6 meter) tall vortex of swirling fire. The vortex forms over a pool of burning kerosene. The flame spirals up through the spinning outer core of the vortex, leaving a hollow calm in the center. The serpentine motion of the vortex is constantly influenced by air currents in the museum. Visitors view the vortex from the safety of a balcony, but they are still close enough to feel the heat and hear the rumbling sounds that it creates. Completed in 1997.
TURBULENT LINE Ned Kahn 2012-12-10 | BRISBANE AIRPORT, AUSTRALIA-This 5000 square-meter facade of a new parking structure at the airport is covered with 250,000 hinged aluminum panels that sway in the breeze. The panels are perforated and anodized to render a photograph of a mast of a sailing ship reflected in water. The photograph of this man-made line distorted by the turbulent surface of water was taken in the nearby Brisbane River. As wind animates the facade, the huge photographic rendering is further distorted by nature. The installation, which was a collaboration with UAP, is one of the largest works of art in Australia. Completed in 2012.
Sonic Range Ned Kahn 2012-12-10 | Exploratorium, Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco. 1992Fine copper powder on a vibrating membrane behaves in complex ways evocative of plate tectonic motion and the liquification of sediments that occurs during earthquakes. Viewers can alter the pattern of miniature subduction zones, fault lines and eruptive geysers by changing the frequency and amplitude of the vibrations.
Turbulent Orb Ned Kahn 2012-12-10 | World Financial Center, Battery Park City, New York, New York. 1990 -- Intended to suggest the view of the Earth or another planet from space, the sculpture consists a large, rotatable, spherical glass vessel, filled with a deep-blue fluid that reveals the movements of the currents within. Viewers are encouraged to rotate the spherical vessel
Breathing Sea Ned Kahn 2012-12-10 | VENTURA PIER, CITY OF SAN BUENAVENTURA, CALIFORNIA. 1993-A fountain that used the energy of ocean waves to create a blow hole on the end of the pier. Air pressure surges from passing waves blew a spray of seawater out of the spiral structure. The spray cascaded back down to the ocean through a slot in the pier deck that also framed the view of the sea below. The shape and power of the spray varied with the changing rhythms of the waves as well as with the tides and winds. Height 7′. Completed in 1993. Destroyed by damage to the pier 3 years later.
Breathing Sky Ned Kahn 2012-12-10 | CENTER FOR THE ARTS, YERBA BUENA GARDENS, SAN FRANCISCO, CA. 1995-Dense mist billowing from a 20-foot diameter ring of stones reveals the complex patterns of the wind in the sculpture Ácourt. The appearance of the fog changed from minute to minute responding to the air currents and ambient light conditions. Completed in September 1995.
Cloud Arbor Ned Kahn 2012-12-01 | Cloud Arbor - Buhl Community Park, Pittsburgh, PAA 20-foot diameter sphere of fog forms inside a forest of stainless steel poles. High-pressure fog nozzles embedded in the 30-foot tall poles convert water into a cloud that appears and vanishes every few minutes. A collaboration with landscape architect Andrea Cochran and the Pittsburgh Children's Museum. Completed in 2012.
Subducted Landscape Ned Kahn 2012-11-15 | Air bubbling up through glass beads and pigments suggests geological processes within the earth. There is no liquid in the system, just a dry powder and air.
Wind House Ned Kahn 2012-11-07 | Wind House, DiRosa Art and Nature Preserve, Napa, CAFour walls of wind-animated panels create a gossamer suggestion of a building completely permeated by the atmosphere. Commissioned by Renee DiRosa, 2003
Encircled Stream Ned Kahn 2012-11-07 | Encircled Stream - Water flows into a six-foot diameter basin surrounded by a gear-shaped granite bench and forms a large whirlpool. As the basin fills, the whirlpool undergoes a series of complex changes as it goes from turbulent to orderly flow and then back again. The spiral pattern of the water and granite is repeated in the stone paving pattern which swirls out from the fountain and extends throughout the plaza. Founders Court, Seattle Center. Commissioned by the Seattle Arts Commission. Completed in October 1995
Fluvial Storm Ned Kahn 2012-11-07 | A sphere filled with a mixture of water and glass beads is spun by viewers. Exploratorium, 1989
Mirror Array Ned Kahn 2012-11-07 | Mirror Array, Rodeo Beach, Marin Headlands, CAA temporary installation of hundreds of tilted mirrors that revealed snapshots of the ocean surface as waves passed. By removing visual information, the artwork forced viewers to see the ocean surface in a unique way. Commissioned by the Headlands Center for the Arts with funding provided by the Andy Warhol Foundation.
Encircled Void Ned Kahn 2012-11-07 | Encircled Void, Bertolini Student Center, Santa Rosa Junior CollegeA wood turbine suspended in an atrium rotates in response to air currents from the ventilation system of the building. Installed in 2010.
Digitized Field Ned Kahn 2012-11-07 | Digitized Field, ATT Building, Santa Rosa, CAThe side of the ATT building was covered with a field of 30,000 wind-animated panels. Completed in 2005
Mare Undarum Ned Kahn 2012-10-26 | Mare Undarum- Tempe Center for the Arts, Tempe, AZ.A collaboration with architect Barton Myers, and the firm Architekton, on integrating an artwork into the new performing art center. A series of wave generators in a shallow reflecting pool that encircles the building, creates a series of large circular ripples, like huge rain drops falling in a lake, that spread out through the pool in ever changing patterns. An array of thousands of 3"x3" mirrors set into the space between the glass layers of the curtain wall are aimed down to reflect small, moving "snapshots" of the water surface. As the ripples move across the pool, the mirror array digitizes the flow pattern. Even though the viewers are only actually seeing small snapshots of the wave patterns, the mind fills in the voids. The artwork takes the surface of the water, something that people are used to seeing, and subtly converts it into something novel and intriguing. The array of mirrors also functions as a sun shade for the building. Completed in 2008.
Wind Veil Ned Kahn 2012-10-19 | Wind Veil - Gateway Village, Charlotte, North Carolina A 260' long by 6-story tall facade of a parking garage in Charlotte, North Carolina was covered with 80,000 small aluminum panels that move in the wind and reveal what a gust of wind looks like. The 50% open structure was also designed to provide ventilation and shade for the parking garage. Intricate patterns of light and shadow, similar to the patterns of light filtering through the leaves of trees, are projected onto the walls and floor of the building. The undulating facade, which suggests a vertical surface of water, is visible from miles away. Completed 2000. Commissioned by Bank of America
Wind Silos Ned Kahn 2012-10-19 | Wind Silos - International Trade Center, Charlotte, North CarolinaAn 80' tall by 450' long facade of a parking structure was covered with a series of undulating metal screens evocative of grain silos. The corrugated and perforated stainless steel screens that form the silos are designed to allow ventilation of the parking structure while creating a visual screen. A 16' tall band, composed of thousands of wind-activated, 6-inch diameter stainless steel disks, runs the entire length of the facade, rising and falling with the contours of the silos. The polished surfaces of the disks capture the colors of the sky and sunlight. Completed in 2005.
Wind Portal Ned Kahn 2012-10-19 | Wind Portal - BART Station, San Francisco International AirportThe artwork consists of 200,000 mirrored disks which respond to the air currents generated by passing trains and the natural wind passing through the BART Station. The stainless steel disks encircle a 55' diameter by 12' deep hole in the main level of the station, through which escalators and stairs run. The myriad of tiny mirrors reflect colors from people's clothing as they pass through the portal, creating an ever-changing mosaic of light, sculpted by the wind. A collaboration with the architectural firm, MBT. Completed in 2003.
Wind Leaves Ned Kahn 2012-10-19 | Wind Leaves, Milwaukee Waterfront Park, Milwaukee, WIA series of 7, 30' tall, aluminum and stainless structures that turn in the wind and are shaped like huge leaves. The surfaces of the leaves are covered by thousands of small stainless steel disks that ripple in the wind. The large leaf elements are mounted on ball bearings so that they rotate in the wind. Hand wheels on the support columns also let viewers turn the the sculptures. The artwork serves as a visual bridge between the Milwaukee Art Museum and Discovery World the new science museum on Pier Wisconsin. Completed in 2006.
Wind Cube Ned Kahn 2012-10-19 | A 7x7x7 foot cube filled with 3000 wind vanes that reveal the passage of wind through the volume of the sculpture.
Wave Oculus Ned Kahn 2012-10-19 | Wave Oculus - Union Point Park, Oakland EstuaryA collaboration with Mario Schjetnan and PGA Design on a circular pier that extends out into the estuary. The entire pier is designed to visually merge with the bay. The inner ring of the pier is lined with thousands of mirrors that reflect snapshots of the water surface, creating the illusion that the water surface has been "digitized" and is flowing through the structure of the pier. The project also includes a series of land forms based on waves that are traversed by bicycle and pedestrian trails, a spiral-shaped observation tower and many sites for picnicking and active recreation. Completed in 2005.
Technorama Facade Ned Kahn 2012-10-19 | Technorama Facade - Winterthur, Switzerland. In 2002, Ned Kahn worked with the Swiss Science Center, and their architects, Durig and Rami, to create a 6-story tall facade for the museum which is composed of thousands of aluminum panels that move in the air currents and reveal the complex patterns of turbulence in the wind. The entire facade of the museum is 220' long and was covered by 80,000 wind-animated panels. The brushed aluminum surface of the panels reflects light and color from the sky and surrounding buildings. The facade is the visual focal point of a large urban plaza in front of the museum. Completed in 2002.
Sonic Range Ned Kahn 2012-10-19 | Copper powder on a drum head set in motion by a speaker creates a complex landscape.
Rainbow Arbor Ned Kahn 2012-10-19 | Rainbow Arbor - Skirball Museum and Cultural Center, Los Angeles, CAA 100' long by 12' tall curved, tilted wall made of perforated stainless steel with mist sprayers along the top edge. The billowing mist serves to dematerialize the edge of the artwork while providing a cooling environment for people walking along the path. Completed in 2007
Pebble Chime Ned Kahn 2012-10-19 | A sound sculpture that is played by dropping pebbles down through a matrix of tuned stainless steel nails. Milwaukee Waterfront.
Magnetic Fieldstone Ned Kahn 2012-10-19 | Magnetic Field Stone - Huntington Botanical Gardens, Pasadena, CAA powerful rare earth magnet is slowly rotated by a motor embedded inside of a large natural boulder. A basin carved in the top of the boulder holds natural magnetite sand which responds and reveals the magnetic field lines. Completed in 2004
Infalling Cloud Ned Kahn 2012-10-19 | Infalling Cloud - Rose Center for Earth and Space, American Museum of Natural History, New York. Fog spiraling into a dark funnel is suggestive of the dynamics of a galaxy or a black hole. Viewers can change the airflow and sculpt the shape of the vortex. 1999
Fire Vortex Ned Kahn 2012-10-19 | Fire Vortex - Technorama Museum, Winterthur, Switzerland. Swirling air sculpts a flame into an 20-foot-tall pillar of fire. The entire structure is suspended in a dark atrium of the museum. Visitors view the vortex from the safety of a balcony, but they are still close enough to feel the heat and hear the rumbling sounds that it creates. The serpentine motion of the vortex is constantly influenced by air currents in the museum. The hollow core of the vortex is visible in this image.
Duales Systems Pavilion Ned Kahn 2012-10-19 | Duales Systems Pavilion - EXPO 2000, Hannover, GermanyA collaboration with the architect Uwe Bruckner on the design of an experimental "green" building for the EXPO. Sponsored by Duales Systems, the large German recycling company, the building was designed to create a seven-story tornado. To express the central theme of "cycles", the circular shape of the building and air turbines integrated into the spiral ramps and ceiling sculpted the air in the central atrium into a 75-foot (23 meters) tall vortex.
Cloud Rings Ned Kahn 2012-10-19 | Cloud Rings - 21C Hotel and Museum, Louisville, KYA series of devices that shoot rings of fog, at random intervals, up through the vertical space between the buildings of the new hotel / contemporary art museum complex. The rings start a story below grade and drift up above the tops of the buildings. The rings are visible from the street as well as from hotel windows that look into the courtyard. They are lit by natural sunlight during the day and a series of spotlights at night. Completed in 2006.
Avalanche Ned Kahn 2012-10-19 | Avalanche - Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago, ILThe sculpture consists of a 20-foot diameter steel disk covered with a mixture of glass beads and garnet sand is rotated by a large motor. The perimeter of the steel disk is forms a reservoir for the sand mixture. The avalanching sand naturally organizes into complex patterns of waves suggestive of turbulence in liquids. Viewers can control the speed of the rotating disk and thus increase or decrease the activity and turbulence of the avalanche. Completed in 2011.
Articulated Cloud Ned Kahn 2012-10-19 | Articulated Cloud - Pittsburgh Children's Museum, Pittsburgh, PAComposed of thousands of white plastic squares that move in the wind, the artwork is intended to create the impression that the architecture has been surrounded by an abstract cloud. The articulated skin, which wraps around the entire building, is supported by an aluminum space frame. The design evolved through a collaboration with the architects, Koning / Eizenberg. Completed in 2004.
Wind Fins Ned Kahn 2012-10-18 | Wind Fins, Neiman Marcus Store, Walnut Creek, CAA series of wind-animated vertical fins fabricated out of brushed aluminum are integrated into the design of a glass curtain wall. The fins are mounted on tilted hinges so that when there is no wind they come to rest perpendicular to the plane of the windows. When there is wind, the metal fins sway like grasses in a breeze or the dorsal fin of a huge fish. The gentle movement of the aluminum panels and the way they reflect light and colors from the sky and surrounding urban landscape gives the artwork a porous and gossamer feel. Completed in 2012.
Encircled Cloud Ned Kahn 2012-10-18 | Encircled Cloud - Paradise Ridge Winery and Sculpture Garden, Santa Rosa, CAMist billows from a 6-foot diameter stainless steel ring. Visitors can run through the ring. The portal serves to frame and at the same time obscure the view of the landscape beyond. Completed in 2012.
Cloud Vessel Ned Kahn 2012-10-18 | Cloud Vessel - The Docks, Sacramento, CA.A collaboration with the landscape firm Walker Macy on the design of a park along the Sacramento River in the center of Sacramento. Ned Kahn worked with the designers from initial master planning to completion of the park. He developed an art master plan for integrating future artworks by other artists into the park. He also developed and built a large sculpture intended to suggest a boat that is fabricated out of thin sheets of perforated metal that are hinged to sway in the wind. Lights and mist sprayers are hidden between the layers. The mist sprayers serve to dematerialize the form of the boat and cool people passing underneath on hot summer days. The park was once the site of bustling commercial docks during the time of the Gold Rush. Only traces of foundations of these buildings remain. The artwork was intended to suggest a memory of this former time. Completed in 2010.
Spoonfalls Ned Kahn 2012-10-18 | Spoonfall, H2 Hotel, Healdsburg, CA2000 espresso spoons that have been modified so that they fill with water and tip are installed in the entryway of the H2 hotel in Healdsburg, California. The artwork is integrated into the rain gathering system of the building. Completed in 2010.
Wind Arbor Ned Kahn 2012-10-18 | Wind Arbor, Marina Bay Sands, SingaporeFour vertical acres of the glass facade of a hotel lobby was covered with a cable net structure composed of a half a million hinged elements that sway in the wind and reveal the patterns of the wind. The artwork, a collaboration with architect Moshe Safdie, functions as a shade for the lobby, blocking 50% of the sunlight and heat. The overall shape of the cable net is a huge triangle, 200-feet tall at the top and over a1000-feet long. 70 miles of 1/8-inch cables are strung vertically across the facade, spaced every 6-inches. The wind-animated elements clamp to adjacent cables. Completed in 2011.
