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All the United States Illinois Chicago Lucent
AO Edited

Lucent

A shining sculpture made of 3,115 lights, the number of visible stars in the Northern Hemisphere.

Chicago, Illinois

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The piece contains 3,115 hand-blown glass bulbs   Mark Hadden
Granite below and mirrors above give the sculpture the feeling of infinity.   Mark Hadden
Buttress worked with an astrophysicist to create this sculptural star map   Mark Hadden
Lucent   springer / Atlas Obscura User
Lucent - Brilliant   springer / Atlas Obscura User
Magical   springer / Atlas Obscura User
  Julius Spada / Atlas Obscura User
  Julius Spada / Atlas Obscura User
  JulsMaya / Atlas Obscura User
Lucent by Wolfgang Buttress 9.7.23   misszon / Atlas Obscura User
The water below is like glass   IronQueen / Atlas Obscura User
  sonotthereason / Atlas Obscura User
Lucent was unveiled in 2015, and is displayed in the lobby of the John Hancock Building.   Mark Hadden
Lucent is also 3D map of the stars visible in the Northern Hemisphere.”   Mark Hadden
  Julius Spada / Atlas Obscura User
  Mitch Lang / Atlas Obscura User
Lucent from any angle is captivating   springer / Atlas Obscura User
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About

Lucent, the mesmerizing sculpture hanging in the lobby of Chicago's John Hancock Building, certainly lives up to its name. The title is derived from the Latin word "lucere," meaning "to shine," and the artwork's 3,115 lights depict a scale map of the stars that shine in the night sky.

The 13-foot artwork contains thousands of glass bulbs, all fed light through blue illuminating fiber-optic lines. The sculpture, created by English artist Wolfgang Buttress with the help of astrophysicist Dr. Daniel Bayliss, represents a 3D map of all the stars in the Northern Hemisphere that are able visible with the naked eye.

All of the piece's glass bulbs were hand blown by artists at a local glass studio. Each one of the more than 3,000 bulbs is amplified even more against a mirrored ceiling above and a reflecting pool below. The end result is a piece that seems to go on forever, light looping from sky to ground over and over again.

The cosmic-inspired sculpture, Buttress told Chicago Magazine, aims to expresses "the idea of looking up and sensing wonder."

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Art Public Art Sculptures Stars Astronomy Astrophysics

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In the groundfloor lobby of the John Hancock Center.

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Ashawnta, springer, JulsMaya, misszon...

  • Ashawnta
  • springer
  • JulsMaya
  • misszon
  • sonotthereason
  • Mitch Lang
  • elsieestrada23
  • IronQueen
  • Julius Spada
  • tylerwilson97

Published

December 13, 2017

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  • http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/August-2015/See-Wolfgang-Buttresss-Celestial-Work-of-Art/
  • https://www.architonic.com/en/project/wolfgang-buttress-lucent/5102545
  • http://www.wolfgangbuttress.com/
Lucent
875 N Michigan Ave
Chicago, Illinois
United States
41.898642, -87.622746
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