Westbrook Associated Engineers, Inc.

 

Westbrook Aids Art Installation

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.

 

 

 # # #

619 East Hoxie Street | P . O. Box 429 | Spring Green, WI 53588 | Phone 608.588.7866 | Fax 608.588.7954
All Contents are Copyright 2002-2003. Westbrook Associated Engineers, Inc. Spring Green, Wisconsin. All Rights Reserved.