Meander is a commissioned permanent public artwork for CHS Field, a new baseball stadium designed by Snow Kreilich Architects in the Lowertown neighborhood of St. Paul, Minnesota. It consists of fifteen digitally enhanced sculptural pillars, each capped with glass lanterns containing controllable RGB LED lights. An exploration in data spatialization, Meander’s pillars illustrate over two hundred years of historical information about the changing geometry of the Mississippi River, which runs a couple blocks from the site. The size, shape, and curvature of the pillars are a three-dimensional representation of historical maps of the Mississippi River created by Zebulon Pike in the early 1800’s to Google Maps satellite imagery. In addition, data remotely collected from the river will programmatically control the light contained by the glass lanterns. Meander illustrates how data spatialization processes merge with a commitment to ecology, reimagining public spaces, and the fostering new kinds of interactive engagement with public audiences.

Futures North was initially commissioned to design two options for the public artwork (see Field Condition for the second scheme). In advance of the final selection, we managed an extensive 3-month community engagement campaign to solicit input and feedback from local residents.

MEANDER WEBSITE: http://www.meander.futures-north.com/
PROJECT BLOG: http://lb-publicart.tumblr.com/

PROJECT CREDITS

FUTURES NORTH: Daniel Dean, John Kim, Adam Marcus, Molly Reichert
CLIENT:  Ryan Companies, City of Saint Paul
CONCRETE FOUNDATION:  Concreteworks
GLASS FABRICATION: David Ruth
LED VISUALIZATION & PROGRAMMING: Max McDougall
MISSISSIPPI RIVER DATA RESEARCH: Jacques Finlay / The Saint Anthony Falls Laboratory,
University of Minnesota

DETAILS

Meander
5’x8’ steel mesh panels, 6,000 yards of 10lb black fishing line, 2,560 plastic cattle tags
40’ x 10’ x 6’
2015