A giant aerial net installation will hang suspended over Sydney Town Hall next month as part of the Love Lace exhibition.
The artworkTsunami is a 24 metre wide lacework inspired by the 2010 Chilean earthquake.
American artist Janet Echelman was fascinated by the way the earthquake redistributed the Earth’s mass, shortening the day by 1.26 microseconds.
“It asks the viewer to pause and consider the larger fabric of which they are part of,” Ms Echelman said.
Love Lace curator Lindie Ward said the installation will change colour and pulse in the breeze.
Tsunami is one of 134 contemporary laceworks on display at the third Love Lace exhibition, which opened last week.
“I wanted to get lace away from the underwear and doily mode…and into a much more vibrant and designer environment,” Ms Ward said.
“I nearly fell off my chair when these entries came.
“Nothing could have prepared me for the scale and inventiveness of the work…artists have combined outstanding design [and] superb
technique.”
One artist knitted a uterus from human hair.
First place went to Anne Mondro for Detroit Shadow, a life-sized car engine crocheted with steel and copper wire.
Ms Mondro was inspired by her hometown of Detroit, Michigan, where four generations of her family have worked in the auto industry.
“My family has been working in the auto industry since the 30s.”
With a passion for industrial machinery and “rich historical items”, Ms Mondro chose to croquet the 1916 Model N Ford Engine because, “I feel like this engine is the start of it all”.
She spent over 300 hours creating the three-dimensional sculpture, using a traditional crocheting technique with a hook and single steel wire.
Ms Ward said the artwork conjures “a poignant symbol of a mighty US city now reduced to an empty industrial skeleton”.
Love Lace will be on exhibition at the Power House Museum until April 2012.
