Metronome

Union Square South, New York City

The Related Companies with participation of
The Public Art Fund and The Municipal Art Society

Central panel: 98 x 50 feet (29.8 x 15.2 m.)
Overall: 98 x 200 feet (29.8 x 60.9 m.)

Brick, Steel, Aluminum, Bronze, L.E.D. Numeric Display, Steam, Incandescent light, Gold.

Introduction:

Metronome is an investigation into the nature of time. The work references the multiple measures of time that simultaneously inform and confound our consciousness of the moment. The composite work intends to evoke contemplation on the dynamic flux of the city. The elements suggest the instant and infinity, astronomical sequence, geological epoch and ephemerality. Metronome is meant to be integral to the very history, architectural fabric, spirit and vitality of the city.

Project Description:

The elements that compose Metronome refer to and are very much a part of the place where the work exists: Union Square in the City of New York.

The central element is a brick wall built in concentric circles, creating a wave pattern like ripples on still water after a stone is cast into it, making the wall seem to undulate. Gold leaf accentuates the center of the work, a dark aperture that emanates a constant halo of steam. At noon and midnight the hole erupts with a huge plume of steam that is accompanied by an explosion of sound composed to mark the exact instant and its passage, like a noonday whistle or a public clock that marks the time.

Counterpoised below on the wall is a massive piece of bedrock, displaying the millennia of geological history. A long thin bronze cone is poised at a diagonal on the rippling brick façade: a time indicator that suggests perspective.

A large bronze hand poised high on the wall is an accurate enlargement taken from the historical statue of George Washington in Union Square Park directly below.