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June 2004,
Westbrook Associated Engineers, Inc.
donated structural services to the University of Wisconsin's Elvehjem
Museum of Art for the installation NET by Xu Bing. The
astounding installation NET by the internationally know artist Xu Bing
will be on display in Paige Court through June 2005. Xu Bing's most
ambitious installation to date, NET consists of 1000-word text from
Walden by Henry David Thoreau written in nine-inch high aluminum
letters in a font designed by the artist. Rendered in a lighter weight
is an image of a bird discernible in the body of the text. In the very
center, a portion of the text breaks free and cascades to the floor
below into a pile of illegible random letters. More than six miles of
wire were required to string together the 6,400 letters that were made
to the artist's specifications in Bangkok, Thailand. Many art students
and volunteers worked for months with the Elvehjem installation crew to
complete this labor-intensive project.
NET, suspended across the expanse of Paige Court, required a structural
support system that was designed and installed at the upper mezzanine to
permit viewing from the main floor. The design of the structural support
system was donated by Westbrook. Jeffrey J. Koch, P.E. and Andrew C.
Knutson, P.E. oversaw the design and installation of the support system.

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