Triforium (Los Angeles)

Triforium (Los Angeles)

The Triforium is the name of a six story 60 ton public sculpture in the Los Angeles Mall Civic Center complex, located at the intersection of Temple and Main Streets in Downtown Los Angeles. The Mall's architect Robert Stockwell commissioned artist Joseph Young to create the sculpture and it was installed in 1975. Young's original plans called for the piece to be a Kinetic sculpture, which would use motion sensors and a computer controlled system to detect and translate the motions of passerby into patterns of light and sound displayed by the prisms and carillon. Young predicted that his artwork would eventually become know as "the Rosetta Stone of art and technology" and bragged that it was the world's first "polyphonoptic" tower. He also said that the Triforium was a tribute to the unfinished, kaleidoscopic nature of Los Angeles. In the original concept, Young intended for the sculpture to project laser beams into space, which would have made it the world's first astronomical beacon. Budgetary restrictions, however, curtailed this design element. The initial cost of the sculpture was $925,000 and it was dedicated on December 12, 1975 although an electrical snafu delayed the musical portion's debut.

The Triforium incorporates three two-legged concrete pillars, each supporting a bank of multicolored glass prisms (1,494 in all), as well as a Gerhard Finkenbeiner electronic 79 note glass bell carillon with two octaves of English bells, and two octaves of Flemish bells [http://www.publicartinla.com/CivicCenter/triforium1.html] , which were synchronized to lighting effects contained within the glass prisms. Meant to play "everything from Beethoven to the Bee Gees" [http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-morrison18may18,1,4784347.column?coll=la-opinion-rightrail] , the carillon was operated manually, or by computer. The primitive computer originally installed in the structure to synchronize the lights and music was plagued with problems.

Unveiled with much fanfare at the opening of the Los Angeles Mall, the Triforium subsequently fell into disrepair and became the object of ridicule [http://openweb.tvnews.vanderbilt.edu/1975-12/1975-12-10-ABC-18.html] . Legend has it that a judge in the federal courthouse across the street claimed that the noise from the sculpture's sound system interfered with his trials and asked city officials to shut it down. Over the years, the sculpture suffered from a leaking reflection pool located at its base and pigeons often roosted in the structure. Reputed to be "too expensive to fix, but too expensive to tear down" [http://www.downtownnews.com/dtvg/arts.html] , the sculpture still stands. In 2002 Joseph Young reflected on the state of disrepair that the sculpture had fallen into. "At times it was very lonely." he said. "When you do something that affects public tastes, you have to be armed to face the extremes of behavior."

Finally, after decades of inoperation, the carillon bells and lighting effects were restored and reactivated on December 13, 2006 [http://www.ladowntownnews.com/articles/2006/12/11/news/news02.txt] following a $7,500 refurbishing. The sound synchronization computer was still due to be replaced when the lights and sound were turned back on.

A December 14, 2006 "Los Angeles Times" article [http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-triforium14dec14,1,1382137.story?coll=la-headlines-california] mentioned several nicknames that the sculpture has acquired over its lifetime:
* The Psychedelic Nickelodeon
* Trifoolery
* Three Wishbones in Search of a Turkey
* Kitsch-22 of Kinetic Sculpture
* Joe's L.A. Space Launch

ee also

Arts and culture of Los Angeles

External links

* [http://i.askask.com/2006/12/Los-Angeles-Times-Let-there-be-lights-again.html Let there be lights – again]
* [http://www.publicartinla.com/CivicCenter/triforium1.html The Triforium at "Public Art in Los Angeles"]
* [http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-morrison18may18,1,4784347.column?coll=la-opinion-rightrail Public Art Follies, LA Times 05/18/06]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Downtown Los Angeles —   Neighborhood of the City of Los Angeles   Downtown skyline during sunset as seen from Griffith Observatory …   Wikipedia

  • Civic Center, Los Angeles — Civic Center   Neighborhood of Los Angeles   Los Angeles City Hall stands at the southern border of the Los Angeles Civic Center …   Wikipedia

  • Main Street (Los Angeles) — The San Fernando Building on Main St …   Wikipedia

  • List of sites of interest in the Los Angeles area — The following is a list of important sites of interest in and around the city of Los Angeles, California.*Angels Flight (Downtown) *Angelus Temple * *Baldwin Hills Village* *Barnsdall Art Park *Biltmore Hotel *Bonaventure Hotel (Downtown)… …   Wikipedia

  • Civic Center, Los Angeles, California — The Civic Center neighborhood of Los Angeles, California is the administrative core of the City of Los Angeles and a complex of city, state, and federal government offices, buildings, and courthouses.LocationThe Civic Center is located in the… …   Wikipedia

  • Catedral de Toluca — Saltar a navegación, búsqueda Catedral de San José de Nazaret Toluca, Estado de México …   Wikipedia Español

  • Western architecture — Introduction       history of Western architecture from prehistoric Mediterranean cultures to the present.       The history of Western architecture is marked by a series of new solutions to structural problems. During the period from the… …   Universalium

  • Style néoroman — Exemple de style roman richardsonien, le palais de justice du comté de Bexar à San Antonio au Texas. Le style néoroman était un style en vogue à la fin du XIXe siècle inspiré par le style architectural roman des X …   Wikipédia en Français

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”