The City of West Hollywood’s largest Urban Art Program’s public art project, Dream Catcher, by internationally recognized artist Janet Echelman, is on view at the recently opened Jeremy Hotel, located at 8490 Sunset Boulevard.
At 90-feet high Dream Catcher is composed of colored fiber netting that is suspended between the towers of The Jeremy and it transforms the open space between the buildings into a dynamic art installation.
A gently moving, transparent sculpture, it comes alive at night with an LED lighting design that creates a vibrant, illuminated visual experience not only within the hotel’s outdoor space, but also from Sunset Boulevard and locations south of the site.
The inspiration for Echelman’s sculpture stems from the idea of dreaming hotel guests asleep in the two buildings that cradle and support the sculpture. Her research into brainwave activity during periods of dreaming provided a data set from which she extrapolated the forms that constitute the artwork. Dreams are not only private experiences, but are social and cultural ones.
The video below, courtesy of Janet Echelman, demonstrates the complexity, beauty and scale of Dream Catcher.
Dream Catcher is an apt title not only for how it speaks to the guests of the hotel, but to the larger region and its identity as a global epicenter for entertainment and media — a place where dreams are invented and pursued.
Material and Size of ‘Dream Catcher’
Fiber, Buildings and Sky combined with Colored Lighting. Fibers are braided with UHMWPE (Ultra high molecular weight polyethylene) and PTFE (Polytetrafluoroethylene)
Dimensions of net: 85 ft. height x 90 ft. width
Installation dimensions: 108 ft. height x 110 ft. width
About Janet Echelman
Janet Echelman is an artist who defies categorization. She creates experiential sculpture at the scale of buildings that transform with wind and light. The art shifts from being an object you look at, to a living environment you can get lost in. Using unlikely materials from fishnet to atomized water particles, Echelman combines ancient craft with cutting-edge technology to create artworks that have become focal points for urban life on four continents.
Echelman’s experiential sculptures transform with wind and light. She is a recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship, the Harvard University Loeb Fellowship, a Fulbright Lectureship, and the Aspen Institute Crown Fellowship. Her TED talk, “Taking Imagination Seriously,” has been translated into 34 languages. Her works have been exhibited nationwide, including in Boston, Seattle, and San Francisco, and internationally, including London, Vancouver, Amsterdam, Sydney, and Singapore.
West Hollywood Urban Arts Program
The City of West Hollywood’s Urban Art Program is committed to supporting and nurturing the arts as well as promoting excellence in urban design. The arts add vibrancy to civic life, enrich the environment and contribute to the cultural enlightenment of residents and visitors.
The Urban Art Policy, codified in the West Hollywood Municipal Code, requires developers of certain projects to contribute one percent of the project cost to public art. Developers can choose to place an on-site artwork or contribute the one percent amount to the City’s Public Art and Beautification Fund which finances the temporary public art program in the City.
For more information West Hollywood’s Urban Art Program, please visit www.weho.org/residents/arts-and-culture/urban-art-program
