Spanda

Spanda is a public art work by Australian born artist Christian de Vietri located at Elizabeth Quay in Perth, Western Australia.

[1][2] In September 2014, the Metropolitan Redevelopment Authority in Perth, Western Australia, released an open call for proposals for an artist to create a signature artwork for the Elizabeth Quay development on the Swan River.

In March 2015, a panel of 10 individuals unanimously voted to award Christian de Vietri the A$1,380,000 commission, equivalent to A$1.6 million in 2022, to create Spanda.

When someone stands inside the arch, the shape and the repetitions of the form suggest contours of a moving field surrounding the individual's body, and create the impression of an infinite vibration inwards and/or[which?]

[4] There is a pattern of self-similarity in the way the form is exponentially repeated, which the artists says was "intended to trigger the viewer’s own inner experience of 'the whole being contained within all the parts', the recognition of themselves as individual expressions of the universal, intimately interconnected and one with their total environment".

[5] This could be compared to what William Blake describes in Auguries of Innocence: "To see a World in a Grain of Sand, And a Heaven in a Wild Flower, Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand, And Eternity in an hour".

[6] Spanda was conceived and situated by the artist to function harmoniously with the site, Elizabeth Quay, which was designed by ARM Architecture and was being constructed at the same time as the sculpture.

To create the structure, carbon fibre manufacturing and design technologies from the aerospace industry were re-purposed by a team of fabricators and engineers.

Mitchell engineered the sculpture in such a way that maintained the seamlessness and elegance of de Vietri’s design, while at the same time being very strong, even at the finer apex of the form, 30 metres (98 ft) off the ground.