Lindy Lee
#Tower of Ten Billion Stars
MASDAR CITY, UAE
Lindy Lee is an Australian artist who explores her Chinese ancestry through Taoism and Ch'an (Zen) Buddhism. Using symbolic gestures, her artworks embody the intimate connections between human existence and the cosmos. Aligning with some of Masdar City's core values, Lee was commissioned to present an artwork for the space.
The Tower of Ten Billion Stars is placed at the entrance of the Siemens Energy headquarters in Masdar City. It was chosen as an arrival statement that contemplates the world around us and inspires imagination about our connective futures. This artwork was created by panel-beating stainless steel and drilling thousands of perforations through its shell. Finally, it was mirror polished to give off a reflective surface that, when looked at, warps the reflection due to its shape, combining with the thousands of holes to create a sense of the universe.
The UAP curatorial team worked with Lee to align with Masdar City's principles and considered eliminating things like concrete footings to reduce this artwork's carbon footprint. Instead, it now provides a small inhabitable waiting space for visitors made possible by using Glassfibre Reinforced Concrete (GRC) suitable due to its low thermal absorption properties.
This sculpture is about humanity's very intimate connection with the cosmos. By cosmos, I mean the length, breadth, and depth of everything that has ever existed, exists now and will exist in the future. None of us has ever managed to step outside the universe because we are all interconnected. Each of us holds up the sky in our own way. That is the meaning of the Tower of Ten Billion Stars.
Lindy Lee
Image Credit: Jonathan Gainer / Surface Photography, courtesy of UAP | Urban Art Projects
Lindy Lee
Artist
#Services provided
Consultancy
Public Art Masterplans and Strategies
Artist Procurement and Management
Digital Modelling and Renders
Cost Estimating & Budgeting
Materiality & Construction Advice
Manufacturing
Welding & Fabrication
Finishing & Patina
Design Development Support
Advanced Robotics
Welding & Fabrication
Preservation
#Project summary
Creative
Lindy Lee
Artwork Title
Tower of Ten Billion Stars
Project
Masdar City Public Art Strategy
Client
Masdar City
Year
2023
Location
Masdar City, UAE
Build
UAP
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