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TITLE:
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Closest Packing of Spheres
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WORK DATE:
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1980
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CATEGORY:
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Sculptures
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MATERIALS:
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Chrome plated steel rods, molded thermoplastic connectors, smoked grey acrylic spheres around red acrylic sphere
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EDITION/SET OF:
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10
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MARKINGS:
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Signed
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STYLE:
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Contemporary
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PRICE*:
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Contact Gallery for Price
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DESCRIPTION:
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BuckminsterFuller's geometry shows that any sphere tangentialIy and symmetrically surrounded by spheres of the same radius will always produce an array of twelve balls around one ball. This phenomenon defines what he calls the Vector Equilibrium. The transparent spheres of this sculpture give it an ethereal quality reminiscent of a child's bubble blowing while lucidly presenting the concept. Faintly visible equators illustrate the tangency of adjacent balls and the red nuclear sphere clarifies the radial symmetry of the structure. Twenty-four rods delineate the edges of the polyhedron uniquely determined by the nuclear packing of spheres. Its shape is unaffected by additional layers of balls. Two layers surround the nucleus which classifies this structure as "two-frequency," a term that refers to the subdivisions along each edge.
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