The Rising Universe Sculpture

Also known as the Shelley Fountain, the "Rising Universe" sculpture isn't for the faint of heart. It's a towering mass of energy in the form of a spherical globe. I guess you could say that this sculpture could also be labeled as a form of kinetic art because of its interesting mechanical nature. The sphere is built to condense with more than 6 tons of pumped water from the artwork's base. Once the quota has been filled, the once-descending spherical mass then jets upward, pouring all the stored-up water out from below it. The fountain sculpture was made in 1992 to make way for the bicentenary of the birth of Percy Bysshe Shelley, a famous poet. The structure is located at Horsham, West Sussex, England for all to see and appreciate.

The artwork was made by Angela Conner, a renowned sculptor. Despite its large and daunting size, many initially saw it as a sign of distress. The piece was originally planned for the city of Cambridge, but the public protested its construction there. In 2006, the water of the fountain was switched off for conservation. Despite its usage of recycled water, it loses about 180 gallons a day to filtration and evaporation. Although it was soon switched on again, it had to be fenced off in 2009 due to hydraulic repairs. Despite all of this, the creativity involved with making such a monument has to be commended, so I believe Conner did a marvelous work with fabricating such a one-of-a-kind work of art (that flies off water!).