Here are two details from “Albedo” (2010), by Osman Akan. “Albedo” is a two-story-tall sculpture installed in an open area of the parking garage at the Denver Botanic Gardens. It’s made of dichroic glass panels affixed to long, vertical, curving steel tubes. As the identification sign explains, “Albedo is the measure of how strongly an object reflects light. It is an important concept in climatology, astronomy and computer graphics—a relevant combination of disciplines for the Gardens and for Akan, whose art specializes in the physics of light.”
At 3 p.m. on April 2, the sculpture was casting teal shadows on the wall behind it. I didn’t get a good photo of that, so I need to go back. It would be interesting to document how the color and intensity of the square panels change throughout the day, how they vary from sunny to cloudy days, and how they alter over the seasons. I also want to take photographs of this sculpture from which I can isolate even smaller details. I find the colors and the overlapping forms almost hypnotic in their effect.