Freedom in Numbers

Freedom in Numbers is Strawn.Sierralta’s award winning design for a signature work of art for the McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum. Freedom in Numbers was selected as one of ten finalists in an international art and design competition that received 690 proposals from around the world. It is a construct, built by interlocking individual parts that work together, both structurally and formally, to expresses the tenuous nature of freedom of speech. Tension and compression balance the sculpture as it reaches out.

Concept Statement:

"Freedom is built by numbers. Numbers of voice, moment and media that together have assembled a foundation of independence. We are a nation building the story of freedom of speech. We have used the pen, the printing press, the radio, the telephone, the television, the computer, the satellite and the internet as tools to communicate a chorus of ideas. It is all the mediums working together that allow for the singular voice to be heard. A single voice that can change the order of everything to come, and redefines all that preceded it."

Project Data

The Big Issue: 

Fragile state of free speech around the world and domestically.

Project Description: 

Signature sculpture for the McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum.

Concept: 

To develop a construct, built by interlocking individual parts, that work together, both structurally and formally, to expresses the tenuous nature of freedom of speech.

Year:  

2005

Location:  

Chicago ,IL, USA

Client/Sponsor:  

McCormick Foundation, McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum

Site:  

Tribune Tower

Program:  

Sculpture

Scale:  

12 feet tall

Budget:  

$500,000

Team:  

Architecture: Karla Sierralta, Brian Strawn / 3D Visualization: Diego Sierralta / Structural Engineering: Louis Shell Structures

Freedom in Numbers was submitted to the McCormick Tribune Foundation's Sculpture Competition.

The Tribune Tower in Chicago is the result of an international design competition held by the Chicago Tribune in 1922. A $50,000 prize was offered for “the most beautiful and eye-catching building in the world” and John Mead Howells and Raymond Hood beat out 260 other competitors with their neo-gothic design. To celebrate the McCormick Tribune Foundation’s 50th anniversary another international competition was launched, this time to secure a signature work of art for the foundation’s new Freedom Museum, which was located in the bottom of the famous Tribune Tower.

Award:  Stage Two Finalist

Number of participants:  

690 Entrants, 10 Finalists

Jurors:

 James Cuno (Director of the Art Institute of Chicago), Susan Fisher Sterling (National Museum of Women in the Arts), Dick Friedman (National Strategy Forum), Dr. Charles Haynes (First Amendment Center), Vic Vickrey (VOA), and Patrick Gallagher (Gallagher & Associates)

News

Freedom in Numbers was exhibited in: 

“Competition: Public Process for Public Architecture” at the Chicago Architecture Foundation from January 2005 until May 2006.It was also featured in the online exhibition of the same name. Freedom in Numbers was also displayed in the base of the Tribune Tower on Michigan Avenue, Chicago IL.

Freedom in Numbers was published in

: The Chicago Tribune and published in the book Celebrating Freedom.