Congratulations to Katie Paterson for her new public sculpture commission by Apple. The sculpture, entitled Mirage, will be made in collaboration with Zeller & Moye for Apple Park Visitor’s Center in Cupertino, CA and will be installed in 2022.
This public sculpture, by Katie Paterson and Zeller & Moye for the olive grove adjacent to the Visitor’s Center at Apple Park, will be created from cylinders of pure cast glass, made of sand collected from deserts across the Earth. Sand from subtropical deserts, coastal, rain-shadow, interior, mountainous, volcanic and fossilized deserts will be melted into glass. Over four-hundred cast glass columns will combine Earth's deserts into a clear, wave-like form, mimicking a desert dune. Visitors can interact with the artwork, walking alongside and through it, where the glass will subtly melt into the landscape, like a desert mirage. The arrangement of the glass columns will move from desert-to-desert, from East-to-West across the world, beginning at Apple Park.
Mirage blends art, architecture, science and nature. It will have strong material presence, connecting to the elements. Social and connective, it will create an unexpected gathering place for visitors and staff. The glass columns are glimpsed through the trees from the Visitor Center, the highway and beyond, generating a sense of discovery.
Apple retained Artsource Consulting of San Francisco as public art consultant who conducted targeted global search for artists who met the criteria for public art in Cupertino and at Apple Park.