Solar Orbit Transit Station

About this artwork.

At the entrance to the Biotope in Haren, there is a large steel palisade that most resembles a telescope or sextant. The complex steel construction consists of a twelve-metre-long cylindrical tube slanting upwards, surrounded by Solar Orbit: the 'rbit of the sun. The open-work metal ring (seven metres in diameter), with its rods and bearings, carries the tube and rests on two man-sized brick walls. At first sight, the whole thing looks like an instrument that observes, registers and measures with technical and scientific precision. Only on closer inspection does it turn out to be a handsome spatial construction that plays with shapes.  

But if you look even closer, you can see that a large round mirror has been mounted at the bottom of the tube, which does more than you might expect. In exceptionally favourable conditions, i.e. when the sun shines straight onto the tube, the mirror captures the light which is then reflected into a mirror placed directly in front of the entrance to the building. This angle transports the light to the central hall of the building, thus resolving the anonymous and somewhat inaccessible appearance of the original Rijksgebouw. 

The sculpture in Haren only manages to outshine the light twice a year; for the rest it patiently waits for that moment while submitting itself to the inquisitive gaze of passers-by. Who is observing whom here, you could ask.

Facts & Figures.

• Design
  Wendy Hali

• District
  Haren en omgeving

• Year of creation
  1991

• Art type
  Freestanding sculpture, Light artwork

• Material
  Brick, Metal

• Dimensions
  Lengte: 12 m. Ring: 7 m. doorsnede