Janet Echelman’s 1.8 Renwick 

A close up of Echelman's installation for WONDER at the Renwick Gallery.

Janet Echelman, 1.8 Renwick2015, knotted and braided fiber with programmable lighting and wind movement above printed textile flooring, Smithsonian American Art Museum, photo by Ron Blunt

What drew me to want to be an artist was, I have always been interested in how the space I’m in changes the way I feel and therefore who I am at any given moment.
—Janet Echelman

Description

Janet Echelman’s colorful fiber and lighting installation examines the complex interconnections between human beings and our physical world, and reveals the artist's fascination with the measurement of time. The volumetric form suspended from the ceiling of the Renwick Gallery's Rubenstein Grand Salon is inspired by the data recorded March 11, 2011, following the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami that rippled across the Pacific Ocean toward Japan. The geologic event was so powerful it shifted the earth on its axis and shortened the day by 1.8 millionths of a second, lending this work its title. Echelman's knotted meditation contrasts the forces we can understand and control with those we cannot, and the concerns of our daily existence with larger cycles of time. Dynamically-changing lighting casts projected shadow drawings in vivid colors that move from wall to wall, enticing viewers to lie down on the carpet and contemplate the work. 

Visiting Information

Ongoing
Open Daily, 10:00 a.m.–5:30 p.m
Free Admission

Videos

Credit

Museum purchase made possible by the American Art Forum.

SAAM Stories

A photograph of colorful mesh hung from the ceiling inside the Grand Salon at the Renwick Gallery.
After extensive renovations to the galleries and behind-the-scenes mechanicals, the Renwick Gallery of Art reopens to the public today with WONDER.
Splash Image - The Renwick Gallery and the Space in Between
For more than a year, Janet Echelman's woven sculpture 1.8 Renwick has beckoned people into the Grand Salon. Suspended high above, the billowing nets transform the space. At once an artwork and an experience, people walk around the room as colors projected on the hand-knotted nets shift, or stretch out on the floor for a new view and a moment of peace.
Amy Fox
Social Media and Digital Content Specialist

Online Gallery

Artists

Janet Echelman
born Tampa, FL 1966