Jim Sanborn

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Jim Sanborn
Born
Herbert James Sanborn, Jr.

(1945-11-14) November 14, 1945 (age 78)
Washington, D.C., United States
Known for Sculpture
Notable work Kryptos , Critical Assembly
Partner Jae Ko
Website www.jimsanborn.net

Herbert James Sanborn, Jr. (born November 14, 1945, in Washington, D.C.) is an American sculptor. He is best known for creating the encrypted Kryptos sculpture at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia.

Contents

Biography

Sanborn's father was the head of exhibitions at the Library of Congress, [1] and his mother was a concert pianist and photo researcher. He grew up in Alexandria and Arlington, Virginia, attending Burgundy Farm Country Day School, followed by JEB Stuart High School—both in Fairfax County—and then attended Randolph-Macon College, receiving a degree in paleontology, fine arts, and social anthropology in 1968, followed by a Master of Fine Arts degree in sculpture from the Pratt Institute in 1971. [2] He taught at Montgomery College in Rockville, Maryland, and then for nine years was the artist-in-residence at Glen Echo Park. [3]

Art

Sanborn's artwork has been displayed at the High Museum of Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. He has created sculptural works for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. [4] Themes in his work have included "making the invisible visible", with many sculptures focusing on topics such as magnetism, the coriolis effect, secret messages, and mysteries of atomic reactions. [5]

Sculptures

While in England studying archaeology, Sanborn endeavored to create a structure out of stone to gain a better insight on Romanesque sculptures. [6] From this he has created many works of art that deal with invisible forces. These include the coriolis effect and its use of Newton's laws of motion that govern the motion of an object in an inertial frame of reference. He has also worked on pieces that implemented the Earth's magnetic field using lodestones. Other sculptures have featured the science of cryptography. [7] One of Sanborn's most famous cryptographic works, entitled Kryptos, is featured in Dan Brown's 2009 novel The Lost Symbol . The novel is one of books which includes Robert Langdon, the symbologist. [8] [9]

Kryptos

Kryptos at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia Kryptos sculptor.jpg
Kryptos at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia

Kryptos was the first cryptographic sculpture made by Sanborn. It was presented to the Central Intelligence Agency in Langley, Virginia on November 3, 1990.

The sculpture has been both a puzzle and a mystery for those who hope to crack the cyphered messages contained within the sculpture's 2,000 alphabetic letters. Since Kryptos was erected, three of the four sections have been confirmed to have been solved. No one has yet been able to solve the remaining 97-character message. [10] He has also said that should he die before the sculpture's code is cracked, there will be a "sort of historic record" left to verify the claim. [7]

Ex Nexum

As part of its 1994–1997 renovations, Sanborn was commissioned to create a sculpture. The sculpture is entitled Ex Nexum; it was installed in 1997 at Little Rock Old US Post Office & Courthouse. [11]

Lux

Lux was built in 2001 at the Old Post Office Building in Fort Myers, Florida. Both cylinders are made of bronze and they stand as high as 8' with a diameter of 5'. Another work, Caloosahatchee Manuscripts , is in the same location.

Exhibits

Sanborn has also created works of art that reach into the realms of atomic energy and experimental physics. In Atomic Time: Pure Science and Seduction, he presented a "life-size re-creation of a hypothetical atomic lab." [12] The exhibit featured the sculpture Critical Assembly, a three-dimensional representation of the components of an atomic bomb. The sculpture included a disassembled sphere that had been designed to hold the nuclear payload of plutonium and uranium. [13]

His next exhibit Terrestrial Physics , was to displayed in June 2010 as part of Denver, Colorado's Biennial of the Americas. It included a sculpture that is able to generate a 1 million volt potential difference. Utilizing a recreated Van de Graaff generator, Sanborn created a fully functional particle accelerator capable of creating nuclear fission. [14]

Large-scale outdoor projects

In addition to designing intricate sculptures and exhibits, Sanborn has also turned some of his large-scale outdoor art into an interactive experience. Coastline located at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland, is one such piece. A recreation of a portion of Atlantic coastline, the waves experienced here are transferred in "real time" from a monitoring station at Woods Hole, Massachusetts. [15]

Sanborn designed Indian run park located adjacent to the U.S. Federal Courthouse in Beltsville, Maryland, with inspiration from the Iroquois Nations that inhabited the area nearly 900 years ago. On this site, hundreds of artifacts by the Iroquois have been discovered, and it is estimated that thousands still remain. The artist himself has also "seeded" 10,000 arrowheads within the grounds, allowing visitors the opportunity of taking a piece of this work of art with them. The park, named after the original Indian Run river that once existed there, includes a waterfall and walkway resembling the snaking waterway. Also, located within the park is a bronze cylindrical sculpture written in Onondaga language and "transcribed from the ancient oral tradition of the five Iroquois nations." At night it is illuminated with a pinpoint light that emits its text upon the surrounding environment. [16]

Literature

Sanborn's 2004 book, Atomic Time: Pure Science and Seduction, includes images detailing his exhibit Atomic Time: Pure Science and Seduction inspired by the Manhattan Project. [17]

Selected works

Awards and grants

Related Research Articles

<i>Kryptos</i> Encrypted sculpture by American artist Jim Sanborn

Kryptos is a distributed sculpture by the American artist Jim Sanborn located on the grounds of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) headquarters, the George Bush Center for Intelligence in Langley, Virginia. Since its dedication on November 3, 1990, there has been much speculation about the meaning of the four encrypted messages it bears. Of these four messages, the first three have been solved, while the fourth message remains one of the most famous unsolved codes in the world. The sculpture continues to be of interest to cryptanalysts, both amateur and professional, who are attempting to decipher the fourth passage. The artist has so far given four clues to this passage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Corcoran Gallery of Art</span> United States historic place

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<i>The Lost Symbol</i> 2009 novel by Dan Brown

The Lost Symbol is a 2009 novel written by American writer Dan Brown. It is a thriller set in Washington, D.C., after the events of The Da Vinci Code, and relies on Freemasonry for both its recurring theme and its major characters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kim Zetter</span>

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Edward Michael Scheidt is a retired Chairman of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Cryptographic Center and the designer of the cryptographic systems used in the Kryptos sculpture at CIA Headquarters in Langley, Virginia.

James J. Gillogly is an American computer scientist and cryptographer.

The Cyrillic Projector is a sculpture created by American artist Jim Sanborn in the early 1990s, and purchased by the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in 1997. It is currently installed between the campus's Friday and Fretwell Buildings.

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<i>A,A</i>

The A,A is a sculpture by artist Jim Sanborn, located on the campus of the University of Houston, adjacent to the M.D. Anderson Library.

<i>Critical Assembly</i>

Critical Assembly is a sculpture by American artist Jim Sanborn which was displayed at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. in 2003. It included several elements, some actual and some re-created, which were part of the first project at Los Alamos laboratories to design the first atomic bomb.

<i>Lingua</i> (sculpture)

The Lingua is a sculpture by American artist Jim Sanborn located at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center.

Terrestrial Physics is a sculpture by American artist Jim Sanborn which includes a full-scale working particle accelerator. It was displayed in the Museum of Contemporary Art as part of Denver's Biennial of the Americas from June–September 2010.

<i>Antipodes</i> (sculpture)

Antipodes is a public artwork by American sculptor Jim Sanborn located outside of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, DC, United States.

Coastline is an outdoor sculpture by American artist Jim Sanborn installed at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration complex in Silver Spring, Maryland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Bush Center for Intelligence</span> CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, U.S.

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References

  1. ↑ "Sculptor Jim Sanborn gets wealth of ideas from the likes of 'Wealth of Nations'". The Washington Post. August 15, 2010. Retrieved August 15, 2010.
  2. ↑ "Oral history interview with Jim Sanborn, July 14–16, 2009". Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved September 12, 2022.
  3. ↑ Dunin, Elonka. "Jim Sanborn" . Retrieved December 14, 2009.
  4. ↑ "James Sanborn". Cultural Programs of the National Academy of Sciences. National Academy of Sciences. Archived from the original on June 29, 2010. Retrieved October 26, 2009.
  5. ↑ Dunin, Elonka (2009). "Art, Encryption, and the Preservation of Secrets: An interview with Jim Sanborn". In Daniel Burstein; Arne de Keijzer (eds.). Secrets of the Lost Symbol: The Unauthorized Guide to the Mysteries Behind The Da Vinci Code Sequel . HarperCollins. pp.  294–300. ISBN   978-0-06-196495-4.
  6. ↑ Vasquez, Leticia (June 28, 2004). "Art that speaks for itself". The University of Houston. Retrieved October 29, 2009.
  7. 1 2 Zetter, Kim (January 5, 2005). "Questions for Kryptos' Creator". Wired. Retrieved October 29, 2009.
  8. ↑ "'Kryptos' and Dan Brown: Inside the CIA's code of secrecy". Independent News and Media Limited. May 18, 2009. Archived from the original on May 19, 2009. Retrieved October 29, 2009.
  9. ↑ Dunin, Elonka (2009). "Kryptos: The Unsolved Enigma". In Daniel Burstein; Arne de Keijzer (eds.). Secrets of the Lost Symbol: The Unauthorized Guide to the Mysteries Behind The Da Vinci Code Sequel . HarperCollins. pp.  319–326. ISBN   978-0-06-196495-4.
  10. 1 2 "Kryptos Story". Central Intelligence Agency. April 30, 2007. Archived from the original on October 26, 2009. Retrieved October 27, 2009.
  11. ↑ "Old Post Office and Courthouse, Little Rock, AR". U.S. General Services Administration. Archived from the original on February 4, 2024. Retrieved May 5, 2024.
  12. ↑ Gopnik, Blake (November 3, 2003). "Atomic Time: Pure Science and Seduction". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on November 8, 2012. Retrieved October 19, 2009.
  13. ↑ "Exhibit: Nuke allure". chinadaily.com. November 3, 2003. Retrieved October 19, 2009.
  14. ↑ Gopnik, Blake (August 25, 2009). "Sparking Interest Within the Sphere of Art". The Washington Post . Retrieved October 23, 2009.
  15. ↑ Dunin, Elonka. "Sanborn's Coastline Sculpture" . Retrieved November 3, 2009.
  16. ↑ Dunin, Elonka. "Sanborn's Indian Run Park" . Retrieved November 3, 2009.
  17. ↑ Sanborn, Jim (2004). Jonathan P. Binstock (ed.). Atomic Time: Pure Science and Seduction. Corcoran Gallery of Art. ISBN   0-88675-072-5.
  18. ↑ Vasquez, Leticia (June 28, 2004). "Art that Speaks for Itself Enlightens New Sculpture". University of Houston Today. Retrieved August 25, 2009.
  19. ↑ "Walter E. Washington Convention Center Art Collection". Washington Convention Center Authority. September 6, 2009. Archived from the original on February 10, 2008. Retrieved October 20, 2009.
  20. ↑ Flynn, Michael (January–February 2004). "But is it art? (Bulletins)". Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. doi:10.2968/060001003 . Retrieved August 4, 2009.
  21. ↑ Schneider, Emma. "Energy, Coast and Environment Building Achieves "Radiance"".
  22. ↑ Gopnik, Blake (August 25, 2009). "Sparking Interest Within the Sphere of Art". The Washington Post . Retrieved August 25, 2009.
  23. ↑ "Sanborn Resume" (PDF). PDF. Irvine Contemporary. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 24, 2007. Retrieved October 28, 2009.
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