Dutch designer Sabine Marcelis has created four rotating glass pillars for the plaza of Atlanta’s High Museum of Art.
Panorama consists of four rectangular pillars clad in glass panels of orange and red ombre that rotate to offer visitors “a different perspective of their surroundings” when passing through and around the installation.
Located in the central Woodruff Arts Center’s Carroll Slater Sifly Piazza, the installation builds upon an initiative to commission interactive, outdoor works of art and design for the space, which has included pieces by architecture studio SO-IL and Spanish designer Jaime Hayon in the past.
Similar to Marecelis’s past work, which spans installation, spatial and product design – Panorama uses light and glass to manipulate space.
Viewers are meant to pass around and between the rotating pillars, which sit closely together in the centre of the plaza.
“By entering the space between the pillars as they rotate, visitors are given a seamless visual experience that offers a different perspective of their surroundings,” said the team.
“As the pillars move, they will act as magnets to their surroundings, pulling light into a desaturated space to generate colorful reflections, increasing the visual impact of the work.”
The High Museum of Art (the High) is the first major US institution to commission work from the Rotterdam-based designer, according to its team.
“Sabine Marcelis creates projects that are sensitive to their surroundings using reflective glass as a material to question our initial impressions,” said the High curator Monica Obniski.
“Through the experience of Panorama, Sabine is asking us to set aside preconceived ideas and embrace an open mind toward new experiences.”
Panorama will be on view at the High until 1 December 2024.
Located in Atlanta and founded in 1905, the museum features a campus designed by architects Richard Meier and Renzo Piano.
Recently, Marcelis designed colourful plinths for the Euro 2024 group games and created a series of domestic scenes within the VitraHaus loft in Germany using the brand’s well-known pieces.
The photography is by Fredrik Brauer
