A Forest of Art That Grows on Museum Visitors in New York

12 August 2010

Inside Big Bambu with a view of New York City

DOUG JOHNSON: Welcome to American Mosaic in VOA Special English.

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I’m Doug Johnson.

Today we celebrate our thirteen-hundredth show on Friday the thirteenth with music from the band Arcade Fire,

and a story about a huge shopping center in Minnesota.

But first let’s walk among the bamboo …on top of one of the most famous museums in the world.

(MUSIC)

Big Bambu

DOUG JOHNSON: Imagine a piece of artwork that combines sculpture, building design, performance — and trees. Artists and twin brothers Doug and Mike Starn and a team of rock climbers have been building a work called “Big Bambu” since April. This sculpture is on the roof of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. It has been a huge hit with summer visitors. Shirley Griffith has more.

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: From a distance, Big Bambu looks like a huge nest in the shape of a wave. Parts of the sculpture extend up to twelve meters high. This nest is made up of thousands of pieces of bamboo tied together with the kind of brightly colored rope usually used by mountain climbers.

It may seem disorderly, but the placement of each piece of bamboo has been carefully planned.

The full title of this work is "Big Bambu: You Can’t, You Don’t and You Won’t Stop.” The second part of the title is taken from a song by the Beastie Boys. Doug and Mike Starn chose this title to bring attention to the fact that their sculpture is about growth and change.