ECHO, 2011


ECHO, 2011


Olympic Sculpture Park, Seattle Art Museum, WA, USA

A gift from Barney A. Ebsworth Collection

Seattle Art Museum unveiled ECHO by Jaume Plensa, a 46-foot-tall sculpture installed on the shoreline of the Seattle Art Museum’s Olympic Sculpture Park in Seattle on June 29th, 2014.

ECHO has been given to the Seattle Art Museum from de collection of Barney A. Ebsworth. It was originally commissioned by the Madison Park Association in New York and installed at Madison Square Park in 2011 to great acclaim. It is made from resin, steel and coated in marble dust.

ECHO is named for the mountain nymph of Greek mythology who offended the goddess Hera by keeping her engaged in conversation, and preventing her from spying on one of Zeus’s amours. To punish Echo, Hera deprived the nymph of speech, except for the ability to repeat the last words of another. Jaume Plensa modeled the work after a young girl known to the artist. Rising from the center of the park with eyes closed, it will be luminous in both day and night.

In this monumental creation, ECHO listens with her eyes closed in a state of meditation.

From the sculpture park, she will face Puget Sound in the direction of Mount Olympus, visible from land and water.