Photo by Jason Chinn
Photo Michael Prados
Photo Michael Prados
Photo Michael Prados
WAVE
2012 COACHELLA
Four 30-foot towers bob, bow, wave and move in fluid motion, slowly undulating like blades of grass underwater. The towers are illuminated from within by full color LEDs and by fire at the apex. The sculpture waves across five thirty-foot arcs creating a ripple of fire lighting up the desert sky.WAVE is the world’s tallest wave generator, constructed from towers that dance on the horizon. Four towers, each incorporating six axes’ of movement, controlled in unison by a computer to bring it alive and ripple above the participants’ heads.Wave generates slow moving, high amplitude transverse waves providing a physical example for the visualization of this complex and changing phenomena. Both light and audio are common types of transverse waves. WAVE takes architecture and science to the edge of abstraction.The overall effect of the work is massive, surreal, intimidating, hypnotic and simply stunning.