Longhouse Conservancy is raising money to restore Buckminster Fuller’s iconic fiberglass sculpture fly eye dome (1976), suffered damage in a snowstorm that swept the East Coast on Sunday. The outdoor sculpture buckled and collapsed under heavy snow, according to the Long Island agency.
“It’s devastating,” said Longhouse director Carrie Rebora Barratt Art Network News. “It’s the most iconic piece in our garden. It’s the backdrop for our celebrations. It’s on most of our promotional materials. And it’s something that almost no one else in the world has.”
Related articles
the sculpture is one of five existing prototypes by Fuller fly eye domea giant metal mound covered with circular windows. As previously reported, its metal ceiling is now crumpled in the snow. Louis Bradbury, chairman of LongHouse’s board of directors, noted that because its components were custom-made, the dome’s restoration process was lengthy and expensive, posing challenges in determining a market value for a product with few commercial equivalents.
Actually, fly eye dome Due to the insect’s rarity, Fuller patented its modular design in 1965, inspired by the insect’s kaleidoscopic eyes, from which the piece takes its name. The structure is designed to be easily transported, and the welds where its components join are still visible. The longhouse version was empty – it proved popular with partygoers, who did wander inside to take photos, although it was envisioned to be filled with convex glass that would sparkle like a fly’s glass eye.
“Then the interior space will be made up of plumbing, kitchen, beds and everything,” adds Barratt. “The theory behind it, although it never happens in practice, is that at a moment’s notice a helicopter could come and you could move it to another location.”
Fuller debuted smaller fly eye dome The prototype was developed in 1977 by fiberglass expert John Warren. At the urging of architect Norman Foster, he later expanded the design, first to a 24-foot and then a 50-foot version completed in 1980, known as the Monohex Dome and exhibited in Los Angeles the following year. The LongHouse iteration was built in 1998 by Fuller’s student John Kuhtig and stood 33 feet tall. It quickly became a favorite and has remained a constant source of viewing longer than any other installation in the garden.
Fuller died in 1983, leaving behind his fly eye dome Prototypes are scattered across the country. The smallest one found a home with Miami Design District founder Craig Robins, who rebuilt the house in 2014 to withstand hurricane-force winds; it now oversees the area’s Palm Court. Meanwhile, the largest dome fell into disrepair for decades until the Buckminster Fuller Institute sold it to Robert Rubin. Rubin collaborated with Peck Architecture to restore the work for the 2013 Toulouse International Arts Festival, before it was acquired by the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas, in 2017.
The collapse of the longhouse version was discovered early Monday and comes at a difficult time for the institution as it seeks expansion following the death of Jack Lenor Larsen, a textile designer and artist who purchased the property in 1975.
“We are already raising funds to open the house to the public, maintain the gardens, host wonderful summer programs and create a true, not-for-profit cultural botanical garden and museum in the Hamptons,” Barratt told reporters. Art Network News. “That’s the last thing the longhouse needs.”
