1.8 Renwick

Copied Janet Echelman, 1.8 Renwick, 2015, knotted and braided fiber with programmable lighting and wind movement above printed textile flooring, 96 x 45 x 40 ft., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase made possible by the American Art Forum, 2017.7, © 2015, Janet Echelman

Artwork Details

Title
1.8 Renwick
Artist
Date
2015
Location
Dimensions
96 x 45 x 40 ft.
Copyright
© 2015, Janet Echelman
Credit Line
Museum purchase made possible by the American Art Forum
Mediums Description
knotted and braided fiber with programmable lighting and wind movement above printed textile flooring
Classifications
Subjects
  • Abstract
  • Allegory — time
  • Modern art movement — installation interior
Object Number
2017.7
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/2017.7

Artwork Description

Echelman's immersive artwork examines the complex interconnections between human beings and our physical world. The volumetric form overhead is inspired by the data recorded as the 2011 tsunami rippled across the Pacific Ocean toward Japan; the patterns in the carpet reflect topographic information about the sea floor below. The title of the work reveals the artist's fascination with the measurement of time; the power of this geologic event affected time by speeding up the Earth's rotation and the length of the day by 1.8 millionths of a second. 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.

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Related Books

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WONDER
WONDER celebrates the renovation and reopening of the Smithsonian’s Renwick Gallery with an immersive web of magic. Nine major contemporary artists, including Maya Lin, Tara Donovan, Leo Villareal, Patrick Dougherty, and Janet Echelman, were invited to take over the Renwick’s galleries, transforming the entire museum into a mind-expanding cabinet of wonders. Mundane materials such as index cards, marbles, sticks, and thread are conjured into strange new worlds that demonstrate the qualities uniting these artists: a sensitivity to site and the ways we experience place, a passion for making and materiality, and a desire to provoke awe.

Exhibitions

A close up of Echelman's installation for WONDER at the Renwick Gallery.
Janet Echelman: 1.8 Renwick 
September 18, 2020–May 13, 2025
Renwick Gallery
Janet Echelman's colorful fiber and lighting installation, suspended from the ceiling of the Renwick Gallery's Grand Salon, examines the complex interconnections between human beings and our physical world.