Artwork “Mother” for Fred Wilson

Commissioned by the renowned American artist Fred Wilson we were able to contribute to a special work of art entitled “Mother”. This work of art celebrates the beauty of “Mother Earth”. It is a multi-tiered sculpture of twelve globes tilted at different angles and surrounded by Fred Wilson ‘s characteristic black “drops”. The imposing sculpture extends over several floors as a permanent installation in Terminal C of La Guardia Airport in New York.

This exciting project presented us with a wide range of challenges. As a basis for the later earth balls, we first produced 12 hollow balls from a 6-8 mm thick GRP layer. The size of the spheres varied from 0.46 m to a gigantic diameter of 3.36 m. The spheres had to meet various requirements due to their later placement in the airport terminal: They had to have a non-combustible surface in accordance with ASTM 84 Class A. They were also weighted down with additional weights so that they would not rock too much in the event of an earthquake. The sphere was installed by suspending it from the ceiling. This required the construction of a very stable internal suspension device made of steel. The largest sphere had to be divided into four equal sections to make it transportable.

After all the spheres had been surface-treated and sanded smooth, they were given a black paint finish, which the artist Fred Wilson intended as the base tone. The next challenge was to turn all the spheres into globes. The contours of a world map were applied to the black surface using a CNC machine: On some only the continents, on others also individual 195 countries of the globe.

The large “drops”, which are part of the installation, are made of 100 percent aluminum. They were milled by our partner Industrie Mechanik Böger Maschinenbau GmbH and further processed by us to give them a high-gloss black surface.

When work on the globes had progressed, Fred Wilson personally on site and worked out the next “tactics” together with our team. Over the course of the next few weeks, Fred Wilson added a bold texture to many of the continents on the globes himself. The globes were then all painted differently by hand according to very precise color specifications. Fred Wilson carried out the manual work on site with the help of some creative helpers. This collaboration was a great opportunity to introduce the likeable artist to a little piece of Germany and its culture. 😉

Finally, the globes were coated with varnish. The final hurdle was packing and shipping the elements to America and setting up the installation in Terminal C at La Guradia Airport in New York. Our employee was on site in October 2022 to provide technical support and bring the work to a successful conclusion.

The eye-catcher “Mother” at the Delta Airlines airport will continue to attract the attention of passengers for many years to come. It was a great pleasure to meet Fred Wilson in person and to accompany him on his major art project.

Pictures from production

Completed art installation at the airport:

Report in The New York Times

Project details