John Grade’s sculpture Capacitor is an immense, immersive piece designed to, as he puts it, “encapsulate the viewer.” As visitors walk inside the 40- x 20- x 40-foot sculpture, made of fabric stretched over metal frames, it moves, lightens and darkens.
Capacitor was conceived and built in a mere two months and was exhibited at the Kohler Arts Center in Sheboygan, Wisconsin in 2013.
The sculpture responds to information from weather sensors outside the Arts Center, slowly twisting and shifting to changes in wind direction and temperature. The live weather data are correlated to historic data, so the greater the divergence from historical norms, the more the sculpture moves, and the more dramatic the shifts in light.
Grade says he hopes people come away from the installation “having experienced something about the outside environment in a new way, having experienced it with their bodies.”
You can see more photos and other projects by John Grade on his website.
The Finch and Pea 