Doug and Mike Starn's Monumental Bamboo Installation: "Big Bambú" On The Roof Garden of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

This is a section of the elevated interior network of pathways roughly 20-40 feet above the Roof Garden, where museum visitors can walk along for a guided tour.

Bamboo poles to be used for the continuing construction throughout the duration of the exhibition. The skyline of Manhattan's Eastside is in the background.

Facade of the Metropolitan Museum of Art with the banner for the Big Bambu Exhibition

Earlier this evening, I made these images of the new site-specific installation at the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Roof Garden of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Created by the identical twin brothers MIKE and DOUG STARN, the monumental bamboo structure is called "Big Bambú: You Can't, You Don't, and You Won't Stop". The installation will ultimately measure 100 feet long, 50 feet wide, and 50 feet high, and takes the form of a cresting wave that bridges realms of sculpture, architecture, and performance. The structure, made of thousands of interlocking 30- and 40-foot long bamboo poles woven together with more than 40 miles of rope, will continue to evolve as it is constructed throughout the spring, summer, and fall by the artists and a team of rock climbers. Set against Central Park and its urban backdrop, Big Bambú will suggest the complexity and energy of an ever-changing living organism. 

"This piece is what it means to be alive.  To be alive is to be constantly growing and changing," the Starn brothers said. "And when we say alive, we don't just necessarily mean being human. A city is alive. A culture. A society." They also say that this is what their work has always been about: playing with scale and, ultimately, our perceptions of where we stand in the world.
Born in New Jersey in 1961, the identical twins Doug and Mike Starn work collaboratively and defy categorization, combining traditionally separate disciplines such as sculpture, photography, painting, video, and installation. 
The exhibit runs through October 31.
(information from the website of the Metropolitan Museum of Art)