Sun Farm
Encyclopedia
Sun Farm is multidisciplinary project/place and experiential garden created by architects/artists Daniela Bertol
and David Foell. The 60 acres (242,811.6 m²) site is located in Claverack, New York
, about 110 miles (177 km) North of New York City
, and includes land art
constructions, geoglyph
s, architectural fabrications and sculptures:
The shaping of the landscape and structures is oriented to solar and celestial alignments, in a dual effort to capture the sun's energy and to celebrate the cosmos. The work unveils as a built philosophical statement of awareness of being in time and part of a system.
The Sun
's daily path --from sunrise to sunset and its disappearing at night-- is represented, literally and metaphorically, by two spirals connected by a ¾ of mile long axis. East Spiral, located at the east end of the axis, represents the day, metaphor of the beginning of human life. Sun Axis stretches in the east-west direction and is defined by photovoltaic panels, linked to the energy grid; it ends in West Spiral, representation of the sunset and night. A naked eye observatory for night stars defines the center of the spiral. Initial constructions --already realized-- include:
Sun Farm is envisioned as an outdoor art center and energy farm, a series of events in a place available to communities as a showcase of alternative energy sources as well as an educational art and nature destination. The viewing of the main artwork --the intersecting spirals path-- develops at different layers of perception. Art becomes a participatory event leading to a spiritual experience, where the observer is led by views of the sky in the Sun's daily path/cycle. Walking along the path will provide a different layer of interpretation, as a walking meditation, with a direct experience of the metaphors of spirals / time / sun path / life.
Sun Farm was inspired by the holistic model of eastern philosophies / practices and the connection with cosmological events which was present in early cultures, where traditional people used interventions in the landscape as a means of interpreting celestial events.
The site of Sun Farm is in the Hudson Valley, a geographic region celebrated in the paintings of the nineteenth century Hudson River School, for its landscapes, dramatic skies, sunrises and sunsets. The framing of the sky created by the structures in Sunset Farm echoes the intention of those paintings and brings a contemporary interpretation to the perception of the landscape.
Daniela Bertol
Daniela Bertol is an architect, designer and artist, working at the intersection between art and science. Her projects, based on a unified approach to knowledge, encompass several disciplines and media including astronomy, land art, geoglyphs, architecture, design, digital models, photography and...
and David Foell. The 60 acres (242,811.6 m²) site is located in Claverack, New York
Claverack, New York
Claverack is a town in Columbia County, New York, United States. The population was 6,401 at the 2000 census. The town name is a corruption for the Dutch word for "Clover Fields" or "Clover Reach"....
, about 110 miles (177 km) North of New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, and includes land art
Land art
Land art, Earthworks , or Earth art is an art movement which emerged in the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s, in which landscape and the work of art are inextricably linked...
constructions, geoglyph
Geoglyph
A geoglyph is a large design or motif produced on the ground and typically formed by clastic rocks or similarly durable elements of the geography, such as stones, stone fragments, gravel, or earth...
s, architectural fabrications and sculptures:
The Sun
Sun
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma interwoven with magnetic fields...
's daily path --from sunrise to sunset and its disappearing at night-- is represented, literally and metaphorically, by two spirals connected by a ¾ of mile long axis. East Spiral, located at the east end of the axis, represents the day, metaphor of the beginning of human life. Sun Axis stretches in the east-west direction and is defined by photovoltaic panels, linked to the energy grid; it ends in West Spiral, representation of the sunset and night. A naked eye observatory for night stars defines the center of the spiral. Initial constructions --already realized-- include:
- East Spiral, an excavated pond, shaped as a logarithmic spiral and surrounded by a mound; the center of East Spiral represents the Axis Mundi of Sun Farm;
- East West a geoglyph aligned to an east-west axis;
- North Arrow, a 24 feet (7.3 m) metal sculpture parallel to the Earth axis;
- Meditation Path --a north-south gravel path framed by a tree-trunk arch, with a timber sculpture Time Helix, as focal point;
- Time Helix, a helixHelixA helix is a type of smooth space curve, i.e. a curve in three-dimensional space. It has the property that the tangent line at any point makes a constant angle with a fixed line called the axis. Examples of helixes are coil springs and the handrails of spiral staircases. A "filled-in" helix – for...
sculpture based on 108 rotations of a timber module; - North-South, East-West, Up-down, a tensegrityTensegrityTensegrity, tensional integrity or floating compression, is a structural principle based on the use of isolated components in compression inside a net of continuous tension, in such a way that the compressed members do not touch each other and the prestressed tensioned members delineate the...
sculpture aligned to the four cardinal axes; - a passive solar house;
- Sunrise Trellis, a structure framing the sunrise at the equinoxes;
- Square Field, a rock and gravel garden based on geometric progression;
- Noon Columns, a 80 feet (24.4 m) long sundial / sculpture;
- Solstice Monument: the Helix, a helix shaped arch, aligned to the sunrise at the winter solstice and the sunset at the summer solstice.
Sun Farm was inspired by the holistic model of eastern philosophies / practices and the connection with cosmological events which was present in early cultures, where traditional people used interventions in the landscape as a means of interpreting celestial events.
The site of Sun Farm is in the Hudson Valley, a geographic region celebrated in the paintings of the nineteenth century Hudson River School, for its landscapes, dramatic skies, sunrises and sunsets. The framing of the sky created by the structures in Sunset Farm echoes the intention of those paintings and brings a contemporary interpretation to the perception of the landscape.