While in the Pennsylvania Convention Center for ISTE 2011, I came across this intriguing piece of art wedged under an escalator.
I have since learned that the piece of art is by Mei-Ling Hom, and is called “China Wedge”. It is composed of many Chinese cups, bowls and spoons wedged into a space under an escalator. It appears that the space is not entirely filled with cups, bowls and spoons, but they go about 2.5 deep all around. The sculpture, which was commissioned for the Center’s Arch Street Concourse, pays homage to Philadelphia Chinatown, which is adjacent to the Convention Center. (Source (Spoiler Alert): http://philadelphia.about.com/cs/artmuseums/a/paconvention.htm)
I took some photos, because I wanted to turn this into a math story. I didn’t get all the shots I needed, so I have to give a big thank-you to Max Ray, who went back and took care of the Act II photos with his girlfriend, who happens to be a photographer and got great shots. The Act II photos containing referents and shots of Max are all the work of Kaytee.
Here is my attempt at a three act math story as described by Dan Meyer here.
Act I – The Video
Act II – Some More Information in Photos
- The Escalator
- Close Up of China
- Close Up of China With Referent
- Wide Shot of China Wedge
- Wide Shot of China Wedge With Referent (Vertical)
- Max’s Height
- Wide Shot of China Wedge with Referent (Horizontal 1)
- Wide Shot of China Wedge with Referent (Horizontal 2)
- Word document containing all the information I could find about the China Wedge.
- If the entire area under the escalator was filled with cups, bowls and spoons, how many more would have been needed?
That was a GREAT piece of art at ISTE.
LOVE this! I am so excited to try to incorporate digital storytelling in my classroom this year 🙂 I GREATLY appreciate the help you have given me with the video and photos here.
When you say “It appears that the space is not entirely filled with cups, bowls and spoons, but they go about 2.5 deep all around.” do you meant 2.5 items deep or 2.5 feet deep? Where did you find this info? I’m trying to create a SmartBoard document including all of the images, video and info with related source links.
Good question, Sandi. Thanks for pointing out my vague explanation. To clarify, the cups, bowls and spoons appear to be layered about 2.5 items deep. This is simply observational. I can’t find that actual information anywhere. I wonder if the artist would reply to an email.
[…] Ray and I communicated 3 years ago after I was in Philadelphia for a conference. We never actually met while I was there. Since then, […]