AN astronomy-inspired sculpture by artist Wolfgang Buttress was  unveiled on Friday by ANU vice-chancellor Prof Ian Young in the new ANU Science Precinct.

The polished four-metre diameter, stainless-steel sphere, titled “UNA”, features 9000 laser and hand-cut perforations, which represent the stars visible to the naked eye in the Southern Hemisphere, sized according to their luminosity.

“CityNews” used a trusty iPhone map to find the sculpture, located in the Science Precinct courtyard between the Linnaeus and College of Sciences Teaching Buildings on  Linnaeus Way on the ANU campus, and it was well worth the search.

The two-tonne structure looks shiny and beautiful from a distance, but if you  look closely through any of the little holes on the exterior, you’ll see hundreds of tiny light-specks reflected on the inner sphere.

“UNA” was designed in collaboration with ANU Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics astronomer Daniel Bayliss to ensure scientific accuracy.

Buttress has said  that although they are in different fields, he and Dr Bayliss are both concerned with looking at and analysing form and part of their respective journeys is to somehow make sense of these forms. Bayliss in turn sees the sculpture as something that creates its own kind of universe through “a removal of material – its optical nature and scale create unknowable parts”.

By no coincidence at all, the night before, Thursday,  an exhibition of Buttress’s paintings and sculptures was  opened by opened by Prof Corbett Lyon, from  Lyons Architects, Melbourne, at the Drill Hall Gallery and will run until June 23. A time-lapse video shows the installation of  “Rise”, Buttress’s 40-metre-high sculpture in Belfast.

Buttress characteristically produces huge, complex public artworks that look at the relationship between man and the environment, integrating art, sculpture and engineering to alter our perception of space.

Wolfgang Buttress: “SPACE,” at the Drill Hall Gallery, Kingsley Street (off Barry Drive), ANU, until June 23,  Wednesday-Sunday, noon-5pm.  Admission is free.