Summer Winds

To mark the launch of The Massachusetts Design Art and Technology Institute (DATMA), the non-collecting museum and its partners will kick off a city-wide, collaborative venture called “Summer Winds” from July 1 to September 30, 2019. Open and free to the public, DATMA has commissioned the centerpiece of “Summer Winds,” a large-scale, site specific architectural art installation called “Silver Current” created by internationally celebrated and Los Angeles, CA based artist Patrick Shearn and his Poetic Kinetics team.

“Silver Current” will feature an 8,000-square foot kinetic net sculpture, in Shearn’s signature style, installed over Custom House Square in New Bedford, MA throughout the “Summer Winds” season. DATMA has chosen the theme of wind to highlight a natural element of the Southcoast geography that has inspired and brought prosperity to many in the past and will do so again.

Made out of ultra-lightweight metalized film, “Silver Current” is the latest of the artist’s series “Skynets” that will move and shimmer with the wind, from 15 feet off the ground to 115 feet in the air. The customized piece is comprised of approximately 5,200 linear feet of rope, 200 handtied technical knots, and approximately 50,000 streamers of holographic silver film on a monofilament net, forming an iridescent wind wave form. Harnessing available wind, the artwork rises high into the sky and gently cascades down again, undulating in a display that is striking from a distance and intimately immersive up close.

“Summer Winds” will feature local and international artists and performers who will create

exciting installations and performances that interact with the wind throughout downtown

New Bedford, in public parks, and along the waterfront.