PROJECT PROFILE:

Artist: Jim Campbell + Werner Klotz
Title: Silent Stream
Materials: 14,000 + Unique Mirror Polish Stainless Steel Discs, Structural Support
Fabrication: Demiurge
Engineering: Arup
Location: Central Subway Union Square/Market Street Station

Silent Stream is a stainless steel ribbon-like sculpture, consisting of many small elements, designed to hang above the first set of struts on the UMS platform level with moments where the ribbon dips below the struts (never below 10 ft above platform level). Despite the ribbon undulating above and below the struts, the sculpture does not rely on the struts for structural support. Instead, two high-tensile cables arranged in an X above each strut / column line (above the struts and below the ceiling) will provide the structural support for the sculpture to hang from. The ribbon begins by emerging from the dropped ceiling above the north platform entrance and terminates into itself after flipping over the last strut above the southern platform entrance. The highly polished steel disks on the sculpture will reflect ambient, moving shapes and color from the platform below.

The disks, of which there will be approximately 14,000, come in 12 discreet types and are suspended from aluminum u-channel ‘ribs’ by spring steel ‘stems’, which attach to the ribs via collets (to allow the height of each disc to be altered as needed). The aluminum ribs are riveted, via an intermediate adjustable metal tab, to a custom, extruded, and bent steel structure, called the “spine”, which has ladder-like struts at regularly spaced intervals. The spine will be fabricated in roughly 8-9 ft. long sections and joined together at the installation to form one long continuous sculpture. The spine structure is what is hung, via hanger cables, from the (2) high tensile X cable structures above each strut. The struts are 36 inch diameter steel pipes spaced approximately 16 feet on center. They will be coated with 1 inch thick intumescent fire protection coating. Station lighting, fire sprinklers and signage will also be attached to the struts.

The Artwork consists of multiple highly reflective stainless steel discs supported from above. The mirror-like stainless steel relief reflects both the pedestrians and the architecture of the station. By modulating the curvature of the lower face of the disc (between concave, flat and convex) various reflective phenomenon can occur: from magnification, to reflection, to abstraction. By modulating the height of each individual disc a terrain in the surface is created. This terrain contains both text and low resolution image reliefs.

The ribbon-like sculpture remains approximately 4 wide feet on average but grows to 10 feet wide at an area just south the elevators dubbed “the pond”. The path of the scroll has been laid out to avoid the platform level signage, lighting and sprinklers. The curved steel surfaces will be coated with a water and grit repellent substance to assist in cleaning and maintenance, such as Lotus Flower Effect Coating.

Statement from Jim Campbell and Werner Klotz:
In formulating Silent Stream, we chose to disrupt the lines and shapes of the station’s architecture by bringing natural forms and light into the space. When visitors descend to the platform and encounter the installation, they can imagine being underneath a creek looking up at it from below. From this perspective, viewers find themselves at the lowest point in the city while the underground creek above them loops and meanders through the station. As pedestrians move along the platform, they become a part of the ever changing movement of the reflecting and distorting pixels that define the shape of the stream.