White Waving Line

© Hans Haacke / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

White Waving Line

Currently not on view

White Waving Line,

1967

Hans Haacke, born 1936, Cologne, Germany; active New York, NY
y1973-84

A motorized fan blows aloft a silk ribbon, the length of which is determined by the limit at which the force of the blown air slightly exceeds the pull of gravity on the ribbon’s mass. This point of dynamic tension causes the uppermost portion of the ribbon to quiver, a movement that imbues the sculpture with an expressive and emotive physicality. Haacke has compared his kinetic works to living organisms, whose bodies are similarly defined by the interconnection of multiple parts working in concert with one another.

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More About This Object

Hans Haacke's "White Waving Line" in motion

Hans Haacke's "White Waving Line" in motion, view 1

Information

Title
White Waving Line
Dates

1967

Maker
Hans Haacke
Medium
Electric fan and lace ribbon
Dimensions
40.5 × 40.8 × 20.8 cm (15 15/16 × 16 1/16 × 8 3/16 in.) with ribbon: h. 306.1 cm (120 1/2 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of The Forbes Magazine Collection
Object Number
y1973-84
Description
Lace ribbon kept in vertical motion by an electric fan
Culture
German
Type
sculpture
Subject
white (color), ribbon

[Howard Wise Gallery, New York, New York], sold; to The Forbes Magazine Collection, New York, New York, gift; to Princeton University Art Museum, 1973.

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