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artist: Adam Nieman
photographer: Julian Nieman

Marquette for star sculpture

48 Perspex rods of various lengths project radially from a sphere with a light-source at its centre. Light is guided through the rods making their ends glow brightly. This construction rotates about an axis that points north and makes an angle with the horizontal that is the same as latitude of the location (e.g. 52 ° in Bristol). The period of rotation is 23 hours 56 minutes (one sidereal day). This is the central portion of the kinetic sculpture.

The outer portion of the sculpture consists of carefully selected star systems. Each rod corresponds to a star system and points towards it. The length of each rod corresponds to the distance between the star and the sun. As the central construction rotates, the rods remain aligned with their corresponding stars. (Thus, the sculpture does not rotate with respect to the galaxy as a whole.)

The viewer is invited to imagine the central construction and the stars being connected by light as it travels from each star system to its corresponding rod and vice versa. The star systems selected are the 48 closest to Earth that are visible to the naked eye. The sculpture as a whole is approximately 60 light years across.