Smoke Hedge

SMOKE HEDGE

Beinecke Plaza, Yale University,
New Haven, CT

Year:
1983

Dimensions:
6’6″ x 5′ x 200′ (198 x 152 x 6096 cm)

Materials:
Elastic ribbon, aluminum rods, concrete bases

In the stark, modern Beinecke Plaza at Yale University, the shadows of the white marble and granite architecture are the only things that move. Smoke Hedge was first heard before it was seen, the sound, like a flock of geese, drew passersby to a luminous, trembling mist. White ribbons animated by the invisible wind were stretched taut in parallel waves along a classical colonnade, rising and falling across the 200’ length of one side of the plaza perimeter like a mirage.

Smoke Hedge was created in response to the emptiness of the public site, an ephemeral work intended to reveal the vitality of wind and light – a medium for natural forces in a static environment.