''Every Beating Second'' is a large netted

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

Janet Echelman Janet Echelman is an American fiber artist who creates large-scale, aerial sculptures that blend art, architecture, and engineering. Her works are often installed in public spaces and are created using lightweight, flexible materials like fiber, ...

. The sculpture is located in Terminal 2 of the

San Francisco International Airport San Francisco International Airport is the primary international airport for the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. Owned and operated by the City and County of San Francisco, the airport has a San Francisco mailing ...

, which opened in April 2011. The piece is composed of three separate netted structures, each connected to a skylight, hanging from the ceiling of the terminal.

Design

The sculpture consists of several elements. Three net structures hang from the ceiling under

skylights A skylight (sometimes called a rooflight) is a light-permitting structure or window, usually made of transparent or translucent glass, that forms all or part of the roof space of a building for daylighting and ventilation purposes. History O ...

designed to cast shadows of the nets on the floor. The

terrazzo Terrazzo is a composite material, poured in place or precast, which is used for floor and wall treatments. It consists of chips of marble, quartz, granite, glass, or other suitable material, poured with a cementitious binder (for chemical bind ...

flooring is part of the work, and is designed to look like shadows of each net sculpture. At night, the lighting transitions in color from indigo to orange. Computer controlled airflow makes the sculpture and skylight shadows appear to move with the wind. The nets were created with braided fibers and knotted twine suspended from rings of steel armature. The nets' shapes are designed to look like clouds and reference local weather patterns and microclimates. The colors were chosen to be reminiscent of psychedelic music artwork and the

Summer of Love The Summer of Love was a major social phenomenon that occurred in San Francisco during the summer of 1967. As many as 100,000 people, mostly young people, hippies, beatniks, and 1960s counterculture figures, converged in San Francisco's Haig ...

, while also reflecting that the bay area as a contemporary hub of innovation and technology. The title, ''Every Beating Second'', referring to a line by beat poet

Allen Ginsberg Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with Lucien Carr, William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of th ...

, represents the artist's interest in heightening awareness of the present moment.

Materials and size

Powder-coated steel, colored fiber, skylights, terrazzo floor, computer-programmed airflow, colored lighting Net 1: 1,663 sq. ft. / 33 ft. length x 39 ft. width x 19 ft. height Net 2: 1,930 sq. ft. / 30 ft. length x 35 ft. width x 22 ft. height Net 3: 894 sq. ft. / 18 ft. length x 18 ft. width x 19 ft. height Total area: approx. 15,000 sq. ft. / 176.5 ft. length x 83.5 ft. depth x 28.5 ft. height

References

External links

{{Commons category
''Every Beating Second''
on Janet Echelman's website
Terminal 2
on SFO website

on ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

''
Five New Public Artworks Debut at SFO Terminal 2

Sculptures Take off at San Francisco International Airport
on

San Francisco Examiner The ''San Francisco Examiner'' is a newspaper distributed in and around San Francisco, California, and has been published since 1863. Once self-dubbed the "Monarch of the Dailies" by then-owner William Randolph Hearst and the flagship of the He ...

Five New Public Artworks
on

San Francisco Arts Commission The San Francisco Arts Commission (SFAC) is the City agency that champions the arts as essential to daily life by investing in a vibrant arts community, enlivening the urban environment and shaping innovative cultural policy in San Francisco, Cal ...

A First Look at SFO's New Terminal 2
on 7x7 Magazine
"Sculpting Urban Airspace: Janet Echelman"
September 2011 Sculpture Magazine

on

TheStreet.com ''TheStreet'' is a financial news and financial literacy website. It is a subsidiary of The Arena Group. The company provides both free content and subscription services such as Action Alerts Plus, a stock recommendation portfolio co-managed by ...

Art in San Francisco 2011 sculptures Abstract sculptures in California Fabric sculptures Public art in the United States San Francisco International Airport