Kinetic Art | Zahner

Catalyst Sculpture

Catalyst: Kinetic Public Art in Kansas City

Catalyst is a kinetic sculpture in Kansas City by artist Matthew Dehaemers, engineered and produced using Zahner art fabrication services. Located at the intersection of of 31st Street and Troost Avenue, this public artwork was completed in 2010 for the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority.

Zahner engineers and artisans worked closely with Dehaemers to engineer, fabricate, and install the artwork. As a kinetic sculpture, the design included moving parts which were modeled digitally by Zahner engineers and the in-house design team. Zahner crafted the sculpture from galvanized steel, laser-etched stainless steel, and aluminum.

The sculpture’s form is inspired by the root of the Dutch word “Troost,” which means to “provide comfort, solace.” Its location on Troost Avenue is further informed by the diverse cultural perspectives of the area. Catalyst represents the past, present, and future of the street corner, which once served as the hub of Kansas City life in the early 20th century. Catalyst was Matt Dehaemers’ second collaboration with Zahner. His first collaboration was completed in 2008 and entitled Seven Sentinels.

Catalyst sculpture in aluminum, galvanized, stainless steel; custom engineering and fabrication for kinetic sculpture.

Catalyst sculpture looping video of its kinetic motion.

Metal fabricated landscape design for the Catalyst sculpture in Kansas City.

“My hope is for “Catalyst” to mean different things to different people as local citizens become stewards of Catalyst and the Troost corridor it represents … The form of sculpture for some may represent the form of a tree, or the abstraction of a spark of light or even yet the dawn of a new day as a sun unfolds its rays of light.” – Matthew Dehaemers

The 30-foot-tall structure stands above the MAX bus stop acting as an artful signal for the arrival and departure of the MAX transits. From far you can see that a bus has just left, or is currently arriving.

Kansas City hybrid buses traveling southbound will trigger Catalyst to unfold its wing-like arm structures. Approximately a minute or two later the arms fold back up awaiting to repeat the gesture minutes later for the next bus. LED lights have been installed and cast brilliant ever changing light across the surface of the structure during the night time, hitting the entire spectrum of color.

Seven Sentinels

December 30, 2016/in Art & Sculpture Kinetic Art, Public Art, Sculpture Kansas City Matthew Dehaemers L, M 2008 /by cmorris

Seven Sentinels artwork in Kansas City

Seven Sentinels is a kinetic artwork and permanent public installation by Matt Dehaemers. Zahner provided engineering, art fabrication, installation for the public artwork, located in Kansas City, Missouri.

The installation consists of seven equidistant, elongated and oversized parking gates. These were manufactured several times the height of a standard parking gate. Each of the seven pieces were engineered to individually automatically open as a kinetic sculpture. As visitors exit the facility, each parking gate rises to salute drivers leaving the New Municipal Vehicle Impound Tow Lot Facility.

Looping animation of the Nerman Museum kinetic light display by artist Leo Villareal.

The moving lights at the Nerman Museum

Learn more about the artwork Microcosm at the Nerman Museum in Overland Park, Kansas.

Seven Sentinels kinetic sculpture made in galvanized steel. Each of the parking gate sculptures salute exiting drivers.

Detail of the kinetic sculpture Seven Sentinels, a public artwork by Matthew Dehaemers.

Seven Sentinels kinetic sculpture. Each of the parking gate sculptures salute exiting drivers.

Related Project

Catalyst Sculpture

The parking gates were each crafted from powder-coated aluminum and galvanized steel. The sculptures react to incoming traffic, lifting their gates as cars pass underneath. The kinetic movement is a reference to soldiers performing a sword ceremony, and as such shows respect to vehicles exiting the lot. Seven Sentinels was completed in 2008. It is the first public artwork collaboration between Dehaemers and Zahner. Dehaemers’ second collaboration with Zahner, Catalyst, was completed in 2010 and stands at the intersection of 31st Street and Troost in Kansas City.

Each gate tower is 16 feet tall and the each gate is 12 feet long. The towers are placed 30 feet apart for a total of 180 feet from end to end. The artwork is made in galvanized steel, with powder-coated aluminum gate bars, parking control mechanisms, concrete, and a surface-mounted loop detector to trigger the artwork’s kinetic movement.

Aerial photograph of the kinetic sculpture entitled Seven Sentinels, a public artwork by Matthew Dehaemers.

Sport Stacks

December 16, 2016/in Art & Sculpture Kinetic Art, Public Art, Sculpture Cleveland--Ohio R.M. Fisher Silver L 1994 /by cmorris

Sport Stacks: Sculptures at Tower Park

Galvanized steel and stainless steel intertwines in this kinetic artwork made for artist Ron M. Fischer. The project was completed in 1994, and is located in Cleveland, Ohio at the Progressive Field Ballpark for the Cleveland Guardians.

The artworks are located on a pedestrian thoroughfare between the ballpark and the arena running along Ontario Street in downtown Cleveland.

Stainless steel clads the base and crowns the top of the Sport Stacks artwork. Lights are embedded into the tower structure, showing blue and gold which outline the tower’s shape. Polygonal in section, each tower has a large tapered base. The bases enclose utilities, vents, and an emergency staircase which emerges from an underground service area.

The towers contain blue and gold lights which enhance the form. The north tower is topped with a ubiquitous roof vent, which spins in the wind. On the south tower, a stationary crown tops the structure. Learn more about Zahner art fabrication for artists and collectors.

Stainless steel crown at the Sport Stacks artwork by R.M. Fischer

Detail of the stainless steel base by R.M. Fischer

Spinning roof turbine vent tops the Sport Stacks artwork by R.M. Fischer

Celestial Flyways

December 14, 2016/in Art & Sculpture, Landscape Architecture Kinetic Art, Public Art, Sculpture Kansas City Davison Architecture + Urban Design Laura DeAngelis Black, Blue, Indigo S 2008 /by cmorris

Star Disk and Celestial Flyways at Oppenstein Park

Celestial Flyways is a permanent interactive and kinetic artwork made through collaboration with Zahner art fabrication team. The public space includes a central piece by Laura DeAngelis entitled Star Disk, as well as a number of embedded stainless steel artworks inlayed in the concrete pavers. The artwork coincided with a complete redesign and rebuilding of Oppenstein Brothers Memorial Park at 12th and Walnut in downtown Kansas City. The park was dedicated April 18, 2008 and named Celestial Flyways to celebrate the natural environment of the Kansas City area.

The artwork was developed by artist Laura DeAngelis in collaboration with Peregrine Honig with the leadership of Davison Architecture + Urban Design. The piece was commissioned by the Art in the Loop Foundation, a metropolitan organization of business and civic leaders with a continuing mission to enhance central Kansas City with public art.

Star Disk has a number of built-in features which align with the stars and sky. The stars are revealed through holes in the disks filled by acrylic lenses which are lit from below. Drawings of the mythological characters associated with the constellations are etched on to the surface of the disk. Park visitors rotate the star disk to a date and time with a motor operated by buttons on the base.

“

“I wanted to shift people’s perceptions and encourage a different kind of awareness of the space, reconnecting the park to the sky directly overhead and the continuous rhythms of the natural world, which are so easy to lose sight of in the middle of the city.

Laura deAngelisArtist.at

According to Astrolabe.org, the anaphoric Star Disk in the park is very likely the largest and most accurate astronomical machine of this type ever made. The ten foot diameter disk contains the positions of 457 stars in 50 constellations.

In addition to the Star Disk, a number of inlayed birds are scattered throughout the landscape of the Celestial Flyways park, pictured below. These were CNC-cut and etched by Zahner with artist renderings of birds.

This project was a cooperative venture between the city of Kansas City and Jackson Country Parks and Recreation. It required two years of work, the talents of at least 150 people at a cost of nearly $500,000, much of which was donated.

More information can be learned about the process, history, and installation of Celestial Flyways at the Astrolabes.org website.

Nerman Museum

November 4, 2016/in Art & Sculpture, Interior Architecture Furniture, Kinetic Art, Museum Overland Park--Kansas Gould Evans Associates, Kyu Sung Woo Architects Leo Villareal Silver S 2007 /by cmorris

Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art

For the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Zahner worked with Kyu Sung Woo Architects to create interior architectural metalwork and design elements, as well as a unique permanent art installation by Leo Villareal entitled Microcosm.

The scope of work included a perforated metal ceiling and interior facade for the building’s atrium; stainless steel interior panels for the building’s entrances; custom stainless steel service desk; and the stainless steel and LED kinetic art display for the building’s Southeast entrance.

Zahner worked with both the artist and the architect to bring these various metal details to life.

“

One of the Museum’s most iconic works,”

Bruce HartmanExecutive Director of the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art..at

Microcosm at the Nerman Museum

In 2006, while the new building was in design development, Johnson County Community College commissioned a major, site-specific installation by Leo Villareal for the cantilever of the museum’s entrance. “The resulting piece, Microcosm, is now one of the museum’s most iconic works,” stated Bruce Hartman, executive director of the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art. “Leo Villareal’s survey exhibition will be a dazzling and extraordinary experience for our entire community.”

The moving lights at the Nerman Museum

Learn more about the artwork Microcosm at the Nerman Museum in Overland Park, Kansas.

Zahner worked with the artist to develop the exterior soffit and lighting. Under the guidance of Villareal, Zahner engineering technicians installed the LED light system as part of the stainless steel ceiling. The artwork is installed at the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art in Overland Park, Kansas.

“He not only gives viewers the sensory thrill of his ever-changing displays of light: he also creates a participatory social space that is fascinatingly both relaxed and spectacular.” — Susan Krane Oshman, Executive Director of the San Jose Museum of Art.

Interior metalwork for the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art.

Photo of the kinetic light and soffit system developed for the Nerman Museum of ContemporaryArt.

Graphic showing the perforated ceiling system for the Graphic showing the perforated ceiling system for the Nerman Museum of Art.

Atrium for the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art.

Detail of the perforated metal angle panels

Detail of the argyle shadows cast by folded metal with perforations.

Photos of the kinetic light and soffit system developed for the Nerman Museum of Art.

Custom stainless steel reception desk for the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art

Detail of the stainless steel reception desk for the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art

Simons Center

August 15, 2016/in Art & Sculpture, Interior Architecture Education, Kinetic Art, LEED Long Island--New York Perkins Eastman / ABI Chuck Hoberman Silver S 2009 /by cmorris

Simons Center for Geometry & Physics at Stony Brook

Simons Center is new building on the Stony Brook campus which features a glass and metal kinetic art wall manufactured by Zahner. Designed by the architects at Perkins Eastman, the new facility brings a world-class mathematics and physical sciences building to the Stony Brook University in Long Island, New York. The building’s most intriguing feature is the animated stainless steel kinetic surface.

The kinetic panel system first began early development in 2008, when Zahner began working on a series of projects with the renowned kinetic artist and designer, Chuck Hoberman. Hoberman foresaw a future where kinetic surfaces could respond to environmental changes (such as temperature, moisture, and light) by opening or closing an aperture on the surface of the building itself. Today these systems are now possible, and the new Center for Geometry and Physics at Stony Brook provides an early prototype.

Perfectly Perforated

Over the early 1990's, patterned usage of perforated metal began to appear. At the time, the pattern were limited by programming. It wasn't until the early two-thousands, when Herzog & de Meuron designed the de Young Museum, that perforated metal would truly enter into its own.

Several patterns designed by Hoberman Associates are featured on the interior of the new Stony Brook Facility, serving as both the building’s artistic centerpiece as well as a functional shading system. The floor-to-ceiling metal surface is made by layering four panels manufactured in perforated stainless steel. Three of the layers are motorized to open and close based on temperature requirements.

Each of the motorized panels revolve around one another on an engineered track defined by the designed components. The visual effect is like that of a flower, blossoming into a burst of patterns – hexagons, circles, squares and triangles. At one point in the cycle, the perforated patterns all are aligned, allowing the maximum open space. At the other end of the cycle, the pattern becomes an opaque mesh.

The kinetic surface spans 124 square meters and imbues the building with the functional capacity to dynamically change its opacity and sculpt the quality of light within.