Stellarator Wendelstein 7-X Detail, Max Planck IPP, Greifswald
Thomas Struth
German, born 1954
Details
Title
Stellarator Wendelstein 7-X Detail, Max Planck IPP, Greifswald
Artist/Maker
Thomas Struth (German, born 1954)
Date
2009
Medium
Dye coupler print
Dimensions
64 1/4 x 83 5/8 x 2 3/8 inches
Credit
Purchase with funds from the H. B. and Doris Massey Charitable Trust
Accession #
2010.241
Location
Currently not on view
Thomas Struth’s most recent series takes the viewer deep into normally inaccessible industrial and scientific territory. Created throughout Asia, Europe, and the Americas, the images record the structural intricacy of remote techno-industrial and scientific research spaces, such as physics institutes, pharmaceutical plants, space stations, dockyards, and nuclear facilities. "Stellerator Wendelstein 7 X Detail Max Planck IPP, Greifswald, Germany," a photograph taken within a German nuclear facility, exemplifies the element of abstraction that dominates many of Struth’s depictions of high-tech subjects in this series. The forms and functions presented for study are not readily decipherable without the aid of a descriptive label; the overwhelming mix of metal and wire presented in such a monumental scale inspires visual wonder of the technological realm. The work points to the intricacies of scientific inquiry and illustrates how innovation can manifest itself as a visual record of the unfathomable.
Image Copyright
© (c) Thomas Struth