Twelve years ago, a structure was erected in the middle of campus. Ridiculed for its entire life, the piece was eventually taken down. Now, few know the real story behind the Wind Harp.
The Wind Harp was installed in Sep. 2012, and sat between the Memorial Union and Chemical Sciences buildings. This area is known for strong winds because of the large structures surrounding it, and has been dubbed ‘the wind tunnel’ by students.
The Wind Harp started with Lynn Watson, then-campus gardener, who wanted an Aeolian Harp on campus grounds. Wind harps have existed since ancient Greece, but they were most popular during the renaissance and early industrial age before technological innovations caused them to die out. Along with then-associate provost Christa Walck, Watson created Friends of the Garden to raise funds for the project. From there, she enlisted designer Ashok Agarwal, a building contractor who had previously been involved with metal sculptures and other outdoor public art installations.
To assist in the construction of the soundboard, Watson enlisted MSE Professor, Mark Plichta, who helped with the construction of the soundboard out of wood. Physics professor and lead flutist in the Keweenaw Symphony Orchestra, Bryan Suits, also helped out as well as Uli Wahl, a German wind harp specialist. Additionally, Dave Sladek and his team at Universal Metalworks in Calumet fabricated the piece.
Despite its 13-foot-tall stature, Agarwal wanted the piece to look subtle, and designed it to resemble a flower before it blooms.The wooden soundboard was painted lavender and surrounded by two bells, which were painted light green. When the wind was just right, the breeze would cause the strings to resonate. The sound would bounce off of the two bells, which were created from iron and ductile iron respectively, so that they will produce two slightly different sounds. This would produce an interplay of overtones only audible to those nearby. Despite later rumors that the structure was misplaced or misoriented, many tests were done to determine just the right place and orientation for the instrument.
Rumors sprung up that there were speakers placed around the sculpture, that it was built in the wrong spot, or that it was mis-calibrated or mis-aligned. Despite these rumors, the Wind Harp did work as intended. It was designed so that most of the time, it would produce no sound, and even when it did, the volume would be subtle. There are videos of it producing a low hum. Though placement in the famous wind tunnel of campus was thought to guarantee sound from the instrument, many claimed to never hear its gentle hum.
