PROJECT PROFILE:

Artist: Volkan Alkanoglu
Title: Plume #01
Materials: Mild Steel, Catalyzed Paint Coating
Fabrication + Installation: Demiurge
Engineering: KL&A
Location: Cedar Rapids U.S. Cellular Convention Center

Demiurge is thrilled to announce the completion of Volkan Alkanoglu's piece, Plume #01. All 150 tessellated pieces of aluminum have been fabricated, painted and installed in the box office atrium at the Cedar Rapids U.S. Cellular Convention Center. The power of simplicity and iterative difference is ever apparent as the piece visually unifies the large interior volume.

The richness and complexity of this piece required superior project management and digital workflow; projects such as Plume #01with large quantities of unique elements require careful workflow and production design. To that end, Demiurge developed a small piece of custom code to read the 3D model the artist produced and output a spreadsheet for precise bending of the aluminum sheet, as well as coordinating and labeling all of the parts. Demiurge also took advantage of our close vendor relationships to ensure the parts were cut to precise tolerances and labelled before leaving the waterjet table to keep our workflow intact. The parts were then precisely bent using the code-generated spreadsheet, assembled into the finished pieces, prepared, and painted using paint codes selected by the artist and digitally checked in Adobe Illustrator using our large color library. The piece was crated and shipped to Cedar Rapids where our installation team met the piece and installed it over the course of three days. 

This piece, with all its complexity and precision, is an excellent example of the use and benefits of digital design, digital fabrication, in combination with the workflow and manufacturing integration Demiurge implements with every project. In addition to this project, Demiurge worked with Alkanoglu to fabricate and install Plume #02 at the Salt Lake Community College in Taylorsville, Utah and Plume #04 at the Community Concert Hall at Fort Lewis College campus in Durango, Colorado.

From the Artist:
“It [Distortion] is representing spatial connectivity, visual effects and geometrical references of Cedar Rapids.
The contemporary artwork is developed as a contrast to the architecture of the building introducing a synthetic balance. The sculpture is represented as a distorted field condition connecting the past to the present and the future. The colorful pattern allows for multiple readings and a playful ambiguity between surface and openness. The material choice of colored Aluminum highlighted with a spectrum of multiple colors is a balanced towards the interior qualities and tonality of the Convention Center atrium.”

Artist Bio:
Volkan Alkanoglu is the founding principal of Volkan Alkanoglu | DESIGN LLC  whose works have spanned the globe and received both national and international recognition receiving awards for art installations, product design, visionary building designs and sustainable environments.