Skip to main content

Artists create massive sculpture made from thousands of eyeglass lenses


If you happen to be in Turkey right now, don't forget to drop by the famous Pera Museum. Aside from its wondrous Ottoman artworks, you will be delighted to see a vast sculpture fashioned from thousands of used eyeglass lenses.

The nine-meter wide kinetic installation, titled sea/see/saw, hangs in the front of the historic building in Istanbul. It was created by Canadian artists Caitlind r.c. Brown and Wayne Garrett using 14,000 lenses from discarded eyewear. The two were looking for something translucent so that it wouldn't cover up the museum facade, and came up with the idea of using eyeglasses to create pixilated ripples across the front of the building, as drawn by the wind.



The shimmering sculpture, which is on display until January next year, has been designed to mimic the way the light dances on the surface of the Golden Horn, the major urban waterway and the primary inlet of the Bosphorus in the city.

"It has a really sort of delicate, elegant quality that we weren't necessarily intending but we're quite pleased with, and we had a few people ask us if it was made of Swarovski crystals as when you're at ground level it takes a minute to realize what the material is," says Garrett.

                   

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Nike Blazer Mid 77 Scribble

When I was in high school, doodling on kicks was a thing. How cool to come into class, learn a few things, then walk out with a pair of scribbled-on sneakers. Even today, many basketball stars are using their shoes for much more than performance. Take a close look at their trainers and you'll find messages written all over. Now Nike is celebrating the process with the release of its Blazer Mid 77 Scribble. Aside from the hand-drawn sidewall Swoosh, the shoe also has smaller notes hidden all over, including the style name and the year it was made. The tongue is also equipped with the brand's logo, which has been hand-drawn in black. I really like the design, especially the imperfect lines. And since we're talking about scribbled-on sneakers, I can't not mention Niko Pelaez . He's a true shoe-drawing machine!  [h/t: Sneaker News ]

Eagle Blue

Set to Julia Holter's This is a True Heart, Eagle Blue follows the story of a mother eagle looking to feed her young, but is lured into the town with the temptation of an easy meal.

The Salimbaa

Here's a strange tribal instrument I never heard of before now. Originally from the Tinananon tribe of southern Philippines, the bowl-shaped Salimbaa is made of metal and wood, has 30 bronze wound strings, and is played using two small sticks.  Caleb Byerly, who makes lost/extinct musical tools in his North Carolina workshop, has an interesting story on how he made his first Salimbaa. WATCH: More details about Caleb and his craft over at  Our State .