Appositio

APPOSITIO

University of Colorado – Boulder
Visual Arts Complex
Boulder, CO
2010

Art in Public Places
Colorado Council on the Arts

Materials:
Stainless steel, stone, steel, gold

Dimensions:
70′ H x 25′ W x 206′ L

Photography:
Andrew Ginzel

Embracing the duality of the Visual Arts Complex, Appositio creates a dynamic situation for observation and exploration within the VAC Corridor, as a threshold, gateway and commons for the academic community and public. The work’s title is a play upon the act of examination by question and answer, as well the condition of being in close contact, juxtaposition and parallelism – hence focus.

A cable draws a catenary arc between two tall gnomons along the corridor’s north-south axis. Suspended from the cable, several pairs of small rings cast their shadows onto the plaza surface below, accentuating the sun’s transitions through the seasons.

Atop the bridge that links Museum with School, a pair of double-sided convex mirrors reflect the sky and Boulder landscape. At each moment in the day, the northern and southern skies appear very different. The mirrors reflect the sky behind the viewer, placing the brightness of the southern sky as an image upon the canvas of the northern sky.

From the northern approach, the darker nature of the northern sky is set upon the canvas of the brighter southern sky, challenging us to witness and consider the two perspectives simultaneously.

Echoing the circular form and wide scope of vision articulated in the mirrors above, a set of large, double rings are suspended from the center of the bridge. In a formal translation (solid above and empty below) the rings embody a sense of potential.

Set into the plaza below the connecting bridge, a large mosaic eye links the two buildings, emphasizing the symbiotic relationship between School and Museum. Composed primarily of the native sandstone that distinguishes the CU-Boulder campus, the eye suggests the perpetual endeavor to comprehend all that surrounds us. On the winter solstice sunlight shining through the disc aperture on top of the South Gnomon will fall upon the center of the plaza eye.

Appositio explores perception and time through the juxtaposition of related elements. Framing reality as a series of relative points of observation, the work offers a unified set of instruments for analysis and comprehension of our surrounding world, encouraging the act of visual inquiry and magnifying a sense of place and present.

Charles Hickox, Studio Ippozone, Tim Leung, and Daniel K. Brown

Studio Manager:
Diane Roehm

Joe Riche (Demiurge LLC)

Mason:
Patrick Manning

Engineer:
Kyle Schurter

Architect:
Oz ArchitectureResearch Assistants: Michael Scott English, Olivia Fu, George Hoffmann, Violet Lynch

Professor Douglas Duncan

Project Assistant:
Amber Cobb

Interns:
Yi Joanna Dai, Adam Alexander, Christine Harris, Violet Lynch, Emily Calderalo, and Ineshke Unambuwe