today kriston, charles, reid and i went on over to the national gallery of art to see andy goldsworthy's latest project, Roof.

British artist Andy Goldsworthy, along with his assistant and a team of workers including four dry-stone wallers from Britain, is installing a sculpture entitled Roof, which will comprise several hollow, low-profile domes of stacked slate, each with a centered oculus. While Goldsworthy has been using domes in his work in a variety of natural materials since the late 1970s, here he brings the domical form into a new context, scale, and visual perspective. By positioning Roof on the ground and by using Buckingham Virginia slate as his construction material, the artist creates a counterpoint to an architectural form in the capital's skyline, and a reference to a building stone found locally on the roofs of the Smithsonian Castle and Ford's Theater, among others. At the same time, he draws attention to the underlying geological origins of this and other urban centers.

Goldsworthy's long engagement with the dome, a form that itself follows a trajectory that includes Neolithic burial chambers and dwelling cairns, ancient Roman and Byzantine structures, and Enlightenment architecture and modern public buildings, parallels his interest in the markers of human passage through time.

kriston had called the NGA the day before and they said the work was still being built, which was good - we wanted to see it in progress. unfortunately, when we got there today, it was apparently finished and there was nary a person to be seen still constructing. it was actually a fairly disappointing experience, i thought. there wasn't a good way to interact with or view the domes (you could only see them through glass windows from a distance). it just didn't have a terribly strong impact, but i'm glad we saw it anyway. pictures follow. you can also visit listenmissy.com to see some pictures of the work as it was being built.