This interactive maze designed by artist Virginia Fleck creates discoverable sensory features that foster curiosity and unstructured play. Inspired by the process of weaving, the sculpture serves as a metaphor for community and connection. The beams’ repeated movements are a dance taking place over time, weaving a vessel that is invisible but present.
Using 97 brightly painted columns in 3 concentric circles, the resulting maze creates a dimensional mandala, a geometric figure associated with wholeness and healing. Each column is finished at an angle and topped with a mirror finish, beckoning visitors from all corners of the park on a pilgrimage of discovery. Upon arrival, all are invited to explore the artwork through sight, touch, and sound. The overall design creates a moire pattern visual effect as viewers move around and weave through the sculpture. Further, the groupings of columns intentionally create rhythmic patterns which will create sound as participants run their hands along them, the pace of each pass changing the resulting sound. Making their way to the center, participants will find themselves reflected alongside their environment in the fractal, fun-house like innermost chamber of the maze. These flickers, shimmers, sound, and patterns activate sensory experiences that are designed to bring visitors back to their own center. The artwork is surrounded by a decomposed granite pathway and sidewalk extension for accessibility.
This public art project was funded by the 2008 Bond Program and dedicated to the City of Fort Worth on December 3, 2022.
Read more about Concentric Harmony and Fleck’s studio work, featured in Sightlines Magazine.
See other new projects currently underway by visiting the Art In Progress page.