Concept and inspiration

As part of the major redevelopment of the Children’s Garden at Lauritzen Gardens, the park launched an international open call for an artwork to serve as a centrepiece at its highest point. The brief called for a piece that would appeal to children, invite interaction, occupy a modest footprint, feel integrated with the garden, and act as an attractor visible from the nearby Route 80 highway.

In the early research stage, NEON studied the tall-grass prairie ecosystem native to central North America. Early explorers described the region as a “sea of grass” with open horizons and abundant wildflowers rooted in rich soils. Today, less than 4% of that ecosystem remains intact – and less than 2% in Nebraska – though restoration and conservation work is underway in several locations. NEON’s artwork imagines that, as a result of this restoration effort, scientists discovered a fantastical new species, given the Latin name Chorus Ventus – “Dance of the Wind”.

Chorus Ventus comprises 151 curved steel tubes, each supporting a flexible GRP rod tipped with a coloured bell. Radially arranged in rows and scaled to suggest a single organic organism emerging from the ground, the elements form a rhythmic, cohesive field. Colour further reinforces the naturalistic reading: the steel elements shift in a gradient from pink at the centre to green at the outer edges. As with several previous NEON artworks, Chorus Ventus combines natural forces with human interaction. The flexible rods and bells create a subtle soundscape activated by passing wind or by visitors gently vibrating the components at ground level.

Design and materiality

One of the key challenges of the project was developing an artwork that would be playful and engaging for young visitors while also engineered to remain permanently in place through Nebraska’s extreme climate, which includes hot summers, cold winters and the potential for tornados. The structure is anchored below ground by a bespoke two-layer baseplate that secures each curved stainless-steel tube. Above ground, the tubes are finished with a durable powder coating, while the flexible GRP rods are fully pigmented and protected with a UV-stable coating, giving them an anticipated service life of 30–50 years with minimal maintenance.

Each bell and rod has been detailed to be easily interchangeable in situ using a simple grub screw fixing, allowing components to be replaced quickly if required and ensuring the long-term resilience of the artwork.

Public experience

Chorus Ventus is positioned at the highest point of the gardens, purposefully oriented away from much of the site so visitors first encounter only brief, shifting glimpses of colour and movement. This distant visibility creates an early sense of curiosity that draws people toward the lookout point. The approach is via a long spiral ramp bordered by planting chosen to complement the sculpture, allowing the artwork to be gradually revealed as visitors ascend – a sequence designed to evoke the quiet pleasure of discovery.

At the top, seating integrated by the landscape architects provides a calm, elevated place to pause away from the more active areas of the Children’s Garden. From here, visitors can observe the subtle movement and sound produced by the rods in the wind, set against views of the Missouri River in the valley below. After dark, RGB lighting integrated into the base gives the artwork a luminous presence, allowing it to stand out gently against the surrounding landscape.

“Working on this project allowed us to explore the tall-grass prairies of North America and the important efforts being made to restore them. These issues can sometimes feel remote, so our hope is that Chorus Ventus offers both a playful moment for visitors and a subtle invitation to engage with the ecology that shaped it”. [Mark Nixon, NEON]