Artists aim to captivate their audiences by having their work linger in the minds of their viewers long after exhibits have been set up and packed away—art installations allows them to do just that.
While size, time and effort play a factor in how successful most art installations are, the true signifier for each piece is how successfully the installation conveys a certain message and impacts those who have seen it.
Here are some of the most impactful and memorable art installations around the world:
Uraeus, by Anselm Kiefer, New York, US
German artist Anselm Kiefer’s first sculpture to ever be commissioned in the United States was revealed in New York City’s Rockefeller center this spring, from May to July. The piece, made of lead, is an open book armed with two wings that span thirty feet from both covers. A snake twists around the cylindrical podium that the book stands on and other books lay scattered on the ground below. While a coiled snake often represents danger or death, it has also symbolized wisdom and knowledge, as it does in Kiefer’s piece. The artist drew inspiration from Egyptian theology –– Uraeus, the upright cobra, symbolized divine authority in ancient Egypt. Narratives have also been an influence in Kiefer’s art, and wings, in many forms. This book, titled Thus Spoke Zarathustra, discusses concepts such as power and human aspiration. Its sacred text soars upwards, a symbol of transcendence and redemption in the face of tattered hope below.
R-Evolution by Marco Cochrane (2015) (Burning Man)
The final sculpture in a three-part series, R-Evolution depicts a 45-foot women standing at full height, palms turned up towards the sky. The sculpture’s predecessors include, Bliss Dance and Truth in Beauty. All three were created with the help of Cochrane’s model, Deja Solis. The first two sculptures are of women frozen in dance, their bodies a tower of grace and discipline. The third, however, stands out for its simplicity and its bravery. The piece intends challenge its audience and perspective on women in general. It dares us to question her existence, and how different she is from her sisters. Cochrane first built a life-size sculpture by hand and then used a Pantograph, an enlarging tool, to build a 15-foot clay version before creating the piece in its final metal form.
Mexican Border Wall Installation by JR
French artist JR has turned the California/Mexican border wall into the crib walls of a curious baby. JR is known for his large scale portraits, which include a 75-foot photo of a ballerina dancing over Tribeca, and now a massive photograph of Kikito, a Mexican toddler peering over the fence at the American side of the wall. The artist scouted the Mexican border five months prior to his creation, driven by the controversy surrounding the wall. He visited a family in Tijuana, Mexico, a border city, looking for inspiration. He was struck by a certain baby standing in his crib, eyeing him with an innocent curiosity. It wasn’t long before he decided that Kikito was the perfect subject for his project. With both the family’s and the city’s permission, he installed his finished work, which has since become an artful statement in the essay of human rights and immigration politics.
Support by Lorenzo Quinn
Known as one of the most discussed works on display of Venice Biennale 2017, Support gives Venice a ‘helping hand’ as many critics and fans have praised. The sculpture depicts two striking white hands that reach out from the Grand Canal to support the historic building of the Ca’ Sagredo Hotel. Quinn’s aim was to show the potential of human nature, the power that rests in our hands and its lasting effect on the environment. People can help create or destroy the world around them, and Quinn hopes his piece inspires discussion on global warming and climate change.
The Pont Neuf Wrapped by Christo & Jeanne-Claude
Point Neuf is Paris’s oldest standing arch bridge, built back in the sixteenth and seventeenth century. In 1985, Christo & Jeanne Claude wrapped the stone bridge in fabric, as if it was revealed to the nation for the first time. Through their work, the artists executed a ‘revelation through concealment,’ which illustrates the concept that familiarity breeds a sort of blindness. The bridge had been standing for so long for so many to see, that its wondrousness had been taken for granted. By covering it with neutral colored woven fabric, and helped of 300 workers, the artists gave the bridge another chance to astonish its audience yet again.