ASTRA

A luminous cloud appears to gather inside the atrium of the Docking State Office Building in Kansas.

Created by David Spriggs, ASTRA is formed from layers of transparent acrylic sheets printed with individual fragments of an image.

From one position, the layers align to create a suspended three-dimensional volume. Move beneath or around it and the form begins to dissolve, only to gather again from another angle.

LED lighting and mirrored stainless steel panels intensify its shifting, atmospheric presence.

Rather than existing as a fixed sculptural mass, ASTRA is shaped by movement, perception and line of sight. The viewer’s position determines how the work appears.

The title references the Kansas state motto, Ad Astra per Aspera: “To the stars through difficulties.”

The transparent layers make the sculpture especially dependent on where a visitor stands. Its volume is assembled by the eye, rather than carved from a solid block, so the surrounding architecture remains part of the experience.