Liz Larner is a Los Angeles-based artist whose work has been characterized by a sustained examination into the nature of sculpture. For Nasher XChange, Larner created two sculptures for the new Edith O'Donnell Arts and Technology Building that symbolized the exchange of ideas between these disciplines. Arts and Technology is an interdisciplinary curriculum at UT Dallas that fosters collaboration at the intersection of the arts and humanities with science and engineering, and is a partnership between the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science and the School of Arts and Humanities.

The innovative X-shape of the sculptures, described by the artist as continuing her “investigation into the open form and the use of line to create volume,” developed over several years and could not have been realized without the use of digital modeling technology.

Larner’s experience working both with and without technology intrigued faculty at UT Dallas, and made this pairing a natural fit as the program progressed through its first year. A wood version of the sculpture, on view inside the building, embodied the intersection of traditional sculpture media and new technology. The stainless steel version, installed in the outdoor courtyard, evoked the futuristic and technological, providing a fleeting succession of colors and flashes of light and shadow reflecting the activities and experiences of the building’s occupants and visitors.