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The Matter of Time facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

The Matter of Time (which means La materia del tiempo in Spanish) is a huge art display by an American artist named Richard Serra. It's made up of eight giant sculptures shaped like twisted circles and spirals. These amazing artworks are built from a special kind of metal called weathering steel, also known as COR-TEN steel. This steel looks rusty on purpose, which gives it a cool, unique color.

The main part of this display includes seven new sculptures. They are made from large sheets of steel that have been joined together by spot welding. These steel sheets are about 14-foot (4.3 m) tall and curve like giant walls. They are placed around an older sculpture called Snake (or Serpiente). Snake was first made for the museum when it opened in 1997.

The entire artwork was asked for by the Museo Guggenheim Bilbao in Spain. It became a permanent part of the museum's collection in 2005. A famous art critic, Robert Hughes, once said that Richard Serra was "the best sculptor alive" after seeing this work.

All the steel for these sculptures was shaped at a special factory called a rolling mill in Siegen, Germany. The whole artwork is very heavy, weighing about 1034 tonnes! You can find it in the main art space at the museum, which is called the Arcelor Gallery. This gallery is huge, about 430-foot (130 m) long and 80-foot (24 m) wide. It used to be called the Fish Gallery.

Exploring the Sculptures

The sculptures in The Matter of Time are placed in a special way. They are designed to make you walk through them and around them. This helps you experience the space in a new way. Here are the different parts of this amazing art display, starting from the entrance:

  1. Torqued Spiral (Closed Open Closed Open Closed) (Torsión espiral (cerrada abierta cerrada abierta cerrada)) (made in 2003–04)
  2. Torqued Ellipse (Torsión elíptica) (made in 2003–04)
  3. Double Torqued Ellipse (Torsión elíptica doble) (made in 2003–04)
  4. Snake (Serpiente) (made in 1994–97)
  5. Torqued Spiral (Right Left) (Torsión espiral (derecha izquierda)) (made in 2003–04)
  6. Torqued Spiral (Open Left Closed Right) (Torsión espiral (izquierda abierta derecha cerrada)) (made in 2003–04)
  7. Between the Torus and the Sphere (Entre el toro y la esfera) (made in 2003–05)
  8. Blind Spot Reversed (Punto ciego invertido) (made in 2003–05)

See also

Learn more about art!

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