Photo Credits: Claire Kosky, Chris Wilmore, Haru Thomsen
Leo Villareal’s monumental light sculpture, BUCKYBALL, illuminates New York City as part of a major World Cup public art activation led by NALA Projects and The Meatpacking District.
Leo Villareal’s BUCKYBALL is a monumental light sculpture that applies concepts of geometry and mathematical relationships to bridge the binary between science and art.
Standing at 18 feet tall, The sculpture is a network of embedded hexagons and pentagons fused together to form geodesic, concentric spheres, mimicking the iconic 60 carbon molecule Carbon 60 molecule known as a Buckminsterfullerene. The molecule was named after architect Richard Buckminster Fuller, whose geodesic domes—built from hexagons and pentagons—are reflected in Villareal’s sculpture’s design. Full-color, individually addressable LED fixtures are mounted within this geometric, hive-like structure and activated by Villareal’s custom software. The resulting light composition explores the audience’s compulsion to recognize patterns and assign meaning.
The artwork pays homage to the beauty that occurs naturally in our environment and explores the interplay of the minute and the massive. This ever-evolving light monument invites the audience to momentarily pause, observe, reflect, and reconsider. Tranquil contemplation is central to Buckyball’s objective.
BUCKYBALL in New York’s Meatpacking District is led by NALA Projects and the Meatpacking Business Improvement District in connection with NYC DOT Art Partners, a collaboration with the New York City Department of Transportation’s Art Program, NYC DOT Art.