Interface

Object NameInstallation

Artist / Maker Catherine Widgery ((American, b. 1953))

Date2021

MediumDichroic glass, copper screen panels, LED lights, anemometer.

ClassificationsSculpture

Credit LineIowa Art in State Buildings project for the Student Innovation Center. Commissioned by the University Museums and the Student Innovation Center. In the Art on Campus Collection, University Museums, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa.

Object numberU2021.14

Status

On view

Collections

CultureAmerican

Label TextFrom the University Museums Collections Handbook, vol. 2, 2025: A multi-part installation located in the Student Innovation Center, Catherine Widgery’s Interface invites visitors to the building to see new perspectives within their surroundings. The two entryways of the building are enveloped in a pleated dichroic glass, which casts blue, purple, and yellow light throughout the entryway. Depending on the angle of the glass, the viewer may see into the building or their fragmented reflection shining back. The second-floor courtyard creates another contemplative site, where visitors are shaded by suspended copper screens. Cut chevron patterns in the screens create windows to the sky above, with the shadows echoing the building façade and the entryway dichroic glass. Thousands of small LED lights are embedded into the copper screens, moving in wavelike patterns in response to data sent from the roof by an anemometer. Wind speed data causes the lights to dim and move in patterns in real time. The communication between art, science, and technology was a focus of the work of art for this building, hoping to inspire those who use the Student Innovation Center’s many makerspaces and workshops. Widgery has created over 50 public works of art across the U.S. and Canada, specializing in building environmental experiential installations for visitors. Many of her works of public art respond in some way to the outside environment, whether reflecting light, responding to external data, or moving from surrounding wind.

Locations