Posted on December 17, 2018 at 3:58 PM by Betsy Grabinski
The art installation at the Advance Teaching and Research Building (ATRB) was completed last week and is titled Organic Dreams Synthetic Means. However artist Gaston Nogues, of Ball-Nogues Design Studio LLC, doesn't want people to interpret his work through the name. "We want people to interpret this for themselves," Nogues said. "It's not a bronze sculpture; it doesn't represent one specific thing."
When the artists designed Organic Dreams Synthetic Means, they had the scientific purpose of the building in mind, "We want to have synergy with the building," Nogues said. "It started out like a scientific experiment with seeds growing and branches splitting, like something biological would grow."
Rob Wallace, Associate Professor of Ecology, Evolution and Organismal Biology, was the project chair for the Art In State Buildings selection committee for the newly-constructed ATRB. "We are fortunate to have the opportunity to add different forms of art on campus and we have one of the best collections in the country," Wallace said. "We're the Iowa State University of Science and Technology, but without the art there's a whole empty part of our existence."
Organic Dreams Synthetic Means is located in the north atrium of ATRB.
Nogues and his partner Benjamin Ball have their studio in Los Angeles. This is the second installation at Iowa State for the pair; the other is located in Bessey Hall and called 96 Variations on a Phylogenetic Tree.