THE ASK
The Getty Museum of Los Angeles needed a showcase enclosure for a temporary exhibit titled “Cave Temples of Dunhuang: Buddhist Art on China’s Silk Road.” The museum wanted to faithfully and carefully recreate China’s magnificent Mogao Grottoes—a Buddhist religious site near the city of Dunhuang. At this location, over a period of 1,000 years (from the fourth to fourteenth centuries), cave temples were carved into a cliff face and then decorated with exquisite wall paintings and sculptures. Today, 492 decorated caves survive at this UNESCO World Heritage site. The four-month exhibit on loan to Getty was a display of China’s greatest collection of Buddhist wall paintings and sculptures.
HOW SPRUNG DELIVERED
A fully insulated Sprung 40’ x 90’ structure was assembled on the Getty plaza. The Getty Museum plaza floor is made of travertine tiles and could not be drilled into, so ballast weights were used to hold the structure down without disturbing the tiles. The structure’s external membrane displayed beautiful graphic reproductions of several of the Mogao artifacts displayed inside.
THE SPECS
- 40’ wide x 90’ long | Fully insulated Ballast foundation | Four month lease
