Chorus Ventus by NEON animates Lauritzen Gardens with wind, sound and colour

Lauritzen Gardens has unveiled Chorus Ventus, a kinetic public artwork by NEON installed at the highest point of the renewed Children’s Garden. Conceived as a playful landmark within the landscape, the piece responds to an international open call seeking a work that could engage young visitors, integrate with the garden setting and remain visible from the nearby Route 66.

Rising lightly from the ground like a field of windborne stems, Chorus Ventus transforms the summit of the garden into an animated encounter between landscape, sound and movement. The installation draws children and adults alike toward a gently elevated lookout where sculpture, planting and horizon converge.

The project emerged from an early research phase in which the studio studied the tallgrass prairie ecosystems once widespread across central North America. Early explorers famously described this territory as a vast “sea of grass,” an open landscape animated by wind, seasonal colour and the dense biodiversity of prairie wildflowers.

Today that ecological richness has been drastically reduced. Less than four percent of the original prairie remains intact, and in Nebraska the figure drops below two percent. Restoration initiatives across the region are slowly working to recover fragments of this fragile environment.

Imagining a poetic extension of that effort, NEON conceived the artwork as the discovery of a fictional new botanical species emerging from a restored prairie landscape. The imagined organism was given the Latin name Chorus Ventus, meaning “dance of the wind.” The sculpture therefore behaves less like a static object than a living field, responding continuously to air currents and human presence.

The installation is composed of 151 curved steel tubes arranged radially across the hilltop. Each tube supports a flexible glass reinforced polymer rod tipped with a coloured bell. Together the elements suggest a single organic body sprouting from the ground, forming a rhythmic cluster that sways gently in the wind.

Colour reinforces the natural reading of the composition. The steel elements transition gradually from pink at the centre to green toward the perimeter, evoking the chromatic shifts of flowering prairie grasses. When stirred by wind or lightly touched by visitors, the flexible rods begin to vibrate, producing a delicate soundscape as the bells respond to movement.

The piece continues NEON’s exploration of artworks that merge environmental forces with human interaction. Here the wind becomes a collaborator, activating the installation through subtle motion and sound while visitors can engage with the sculpture by gently setting its elements in motion.

Designing a playful installation for children while ensuring long term resilience in Nebraska’s extreme climate posed a significant technical challenge. The region experiences hot summers, freezing winters and occasional tornado conditions, requiring a robust structural solution.

Each curved stainless steel tube is anchored below ground by a custom two layer baseplate system that secures the installation to its foundations. Above ground the tubes are finished with a durable powder coating designed to withstand decades of exposure. The flexible rods are fully pigmented glass reinforced polymer protected by a UV stable coating, giving the components an expected service life of thirty to fifty years with minimal maintenance.

Every rod and bell is designed as a replaceable element. A simple grub screw fixing allows individual components to be removed and exchanged directly on site, ensuring the artwork can be maintained efficiently over time without disrupting the overall installation.

Positioned deliberately at the highest point of the Children’s Garden, the sculpture reveals itself gradually. From many parts of the site visitors initially glimpse only flashes of colour and motion rising above the planting, creating curiosity about what lies ahead.

The approach unfolds along a long spiral ramp bordered by vegetation selected to echo the tones of the sculpture. As visitors ascend, the installation slowly emerges into full view, turning the act of arrival into a quiet moment of discovery.

At the summit, integrated seating designed by the landscape architects provides a calm vantage point overlooking the gardens and the valley of the Missouri River beyond. From this elevated terrace visitors can watch the rods sway and listen to the gentle chimes activated by the wind.

After sunset the installation takes on a different character. RGB lighting embedded within the base softly illuminates the field of rods, allowing Chorus Ventus to glow against the surrounding landscape while maintaining the quiet atmosphere of the garden.

Through the interplay of ecology, movement and sound, the project transforms a simple hilltop into a sensory landscape that recalls the lost rhythms of the prairie while inviting a new generation to engage with it.

Project Credit

Artists / Designers: NEON (Mark Nixon & Viliina Koivisto) / @neon.uk
Architects: The Architectural Offices
Lighting: McKay Lighting
Photography: Tom Kessler