Huge 69-Foot Sculpture Unveiled at SF’s New Hilltop Park
By Lydia Sidhom Bay City News
A 69-foot sculpture by internationally renowned artist Hiroshi Sugimoto was recently installed on Yerba Buena Island, next to Treasure Island in May of 2023
The sculpture marks the first artwork from the Treasure Island Arts Program, which dictates that public art equal to at least 1% of the construction cost of housing and commercial buildings on the island be installed, in line with San Francisco’s art for public development requirement.
Up to 8,000 residential units — including approximately 2,200 permanently affordable homes – and 550,000 square feet of commercial space are slated to be developed on the island. This leaves as much as $50,000,000 for public art, according to the Treasure Island Master Plan, which guides the implementation of the Treasure Island Arts Program.
The arts program is in many ways an ode to Treasure and Yerba Buena Island history, which is a “study of contrasts: between the natural and the human-made; military and civilian; and the past, present and future,” the master plan reads.
In 1939, Treasure Island hosted the Golden Gate International Exposition, a world’s fair that brought visitors from around the globe to reflect on innovation and revel in the recent completion of both the Golden Gate and Bay bridges. Artists of the era were commissioned to create artwork for the fair, signaling that the island and the Bay Area at large would be a hub of creative expression.
Sugimoto’s sculpture, titled “Point of Infinity: Surface of Revolution with Constant Negative Curvaturee,” evokes the “Tower of the Sun” sculpture of the 1939 fair and sits atop a hill with views of the San Francisco skyline. It can be spotted from the Bay Bridge.
Starting at a width of 23 feet at the base, the sculpture rises to a height 69 feet (21 meters) and tapers to a diameter of 7/8 inch (21 millimeters). Eight glass fiber reinforced concrete panels compose the base of the sculpture to a height of 18 ½ feet, and then seamlessly transition to mirror-polished marine grade 316 stainless steel that rises another 50 ½ feet.
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Its hyperbolic shape, Sugimoto said in a San Francisco Arts Commission press release, is “symbolic of humankind’s pursuit of knowledge and innovation.” This human quest, Sugimoto added, is reflected in hyperbolic curves, which travel towards infinity together, getting closer but never converging.
The artist was selected from a public competition in 2017 that received submissions from 495 artists from around the world. The new hilltop park was established as one of the first major artwork opportunities in the Treasure Island Arts Master Plan that was developed in June 2017 and guides the implementation of a projected $50 million in public art funds generated by Treasure Island private development over the next 20 years.
Sugimoto’s artwork has been celebrated and exhibited worldwide, in Tokyo, Paris, New York’s Guggenheim and Metropolitan museums and San Francisco’s Museum of Modern Art. The artist was selected from a public competition in 2017 that received 495 submissions.
Ralph Remington, San Francisco Arts Commission director of cultural affairs, said the sculpture is a first step toward the transformation of Treasure and Yerba Buena islands as construction and development continues over the next two decades.
“Point of Infinity is the first of many public art installations that will help transform Yerba Buena Island and Treasure Island into a world class destination for the arts,” Remington said.
Read more at sfartscommission.org
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