atelier ted noten: '...ever seen a vertical rainbow?'

contemplating the void: interventions in the guggenheim museum
solomon r. guggenheim museum, new york
february 12th to april 28th, 2010

since opening in 1959, the frank lloyd wright-design guggenheim building in new york,
has served as a place to challenge artists and architects to react to its eccentric, organic design.
the central void of the rotunda has elicited many unique responses over the years.
for its 50th anniversary, the solomon r. guggenheim museum has invited more than
200 architects, artists and designers to imagine their dream visions in the space for the
upcoming exhibition 'contemplating the void: interventions in the guggenheim museum'.
organized by nancy spector, chief curator, and david van der leer, assistant curator for architecture
and design, the exhibition will feature renderings of these visionary projects in a salon-style
installation which will emphasize the diverse range of the proposals received.


'...ever seen a vertical rainbow?' by atelier ted noten
image courtesy of atelier ted noten

atelier ted noten is one of the participating designers in the exhibition. his contribution,
'...ever seen a vertical rainbow?', is a decorative intervention which brings attention to the
extraordinary curves of the guggenheim's central rotunda. noten wanted to bombard the void
with a massive quantity of swarovski crystals.

hanging down from the building's ceiling, a container will spit out dosed portions of gemstones
through a 120" wide liquid curtain falling to the floor. the stones will be collected in a
transparent container on the ground floor, and an aspirator will then lead the stones back up
to the ceiling dispenser. every 5 minutes, a new curtain will drop, with the transparent stones
being illuminated by a prismatic color lamp installed on the museum's third floor rail.
when the light hits the crystals, it will give the appearance of a rainbow. every 5 minutes,
the noise of falling stones and the colors of the rainbow reflecting from the stones onto the walls
and curves of the museum will startle the guggenheim visitors.


rendering of the vertical rainbow
image courtesy of atelier ted noten


a prismatic color lamp is installed on the third floor rail of the museum, hitting the crystals as they fall
drawing by atelier ted noten


as the crystals pass the light, they create a curtain of rainbow colors
image courtesy of atelier ted noten


the crystals fall into a container on the ground floor and an aspirator leads the stones back up to the ceiling to repeat the cycle
image courtesy of atelier ted noten