Mel Chin's Wake

Wake, Mel Chin’s giant animatronic sculpture, was installed in New York City’s Times Square in the summer of 2019 and remained on view through the fall of 2020 at 44 Collier Avenue in Asheville. Chin, a WNC-based conceptual artist, was named a MacArthur Fellow in September 2019.

Wake was commissioned as part of Mel Chin: All Over the Place, a multi-site survey of his works spanning many decades and exhibited across various New York City locations. A collaborative group—led by UNC Asheville’s STEAM Studio and The Community Foundation of Western North Carolina—formed to plan and raise funds to bring the sculpture to Asheville.

The sculpture—60 feet long, 34 feet wide, and 24 feet high—was conceived and designed by Chin, and engineered, sculpted, and fabricated by an interdisciplinary team of UNC Asheville students, faculty, staff, and community artists. The installation was interactive, with decks and spaces for visitors to sit and reflect.

Wake evoked the hull of a shipwreck intertwined with the skeletal remains of a marine mammal. The structure was linked to a carved, 21-foot-tall animatronic figure derived from the opera star Jenny Lind, once mounted as a figurehead on the 19th-century clipper ship USS Nightingale. Jenny Lind subtly moved—breathing and scanning the sky.

Sponsors

Wake was made possible by:

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Asheville Downtown Association Foundation
Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority
City of Asheville Public Art Fund
The Community Foundation of Western North Carolina
Susan and Bubba Crutchfield
Rick and Bridget Eckerd
Hedy Fischer and Randy Shull
McKibbon Hospitality
Pete and Cindy Perez
Public Interest Projects, Inc.
Micah Pulleyn and Rob Pulleyn
UNC Asheville STEAM Studio

 

In-kind support was provided by:

Burial Beer Company
City of Asheville Community & Economic Development Office
Ellington Realty Group
Explore Asheville
Kloesel Engineering
Pie.zaa Pizza
UNC Asheville Facilities Management

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