Chorus Ventus by NEON becomes the centrepiece of Lauritzen Gardens Children’s Garden in Omaha
Public art and design studio NEON has installed its Chorus Ventus kinetic installation at Lauritzen Gardens in Omaha, Nebraska, creating a plant-inspired artwork that anchors the new Children’s Garden redevelopment.
The permanent installation sits at the garden’s highest point and is designed to invite gentle interaction while remaining visible from nearby Interstate 80, acting as an outdoor landmark as well as a family-friendly destination.
Commissioned following an international open call, Chorus Ventus responds to a brief that asked for a centrepiece with a modest footprint, a clear relationship to the landscape, and an experience that appeals to children without feeling disposable.
NEON began by studying the tall-grass prairie ecosystem native to central North America, historically described as a “sea of grass” with wide horizons and wildflowers rooted in rich soils. With only a small fraction of that ecosystem still intact today, the artwork frames prairie restoration as a living story that visitors can sense through movement, colour and sound.
Chorus Ventus is composed of 151 curved steel tubes, arranged radially in rows so the installation reads as a single organism rising from the ground.
Each tube supports a flexible GRP rod capped with a coloured bell, forming a cohesive field that shifts as wind passes through or as visitors gently vibrate elements at ground level. The palette reinforces the natural reference, moving in a gradient from pink at the centre to green toward the perimeter.
Engineering was central to the NEON project, with Nebraska’s extreme weather informing the detailing. The sculpture is anchored below ground using a bespoke two-layer baseplate that secures each stainless-steel tube, while the exposed surfaces are finished with durable powder coating.
The GRP rods are fully pigmented and protected with a UV-stable coating, supporting an anticipated service life of decades with minimal maintenance.
To support long-term resilience, each bell-and-rod assembly is designed to be interchangeable in situ using a simple grub-screw fixing, allowing quick replacement if needed while keeping the overall composition intact over time.
The public approach is choreographed for distance and anticipation: visitors catch shifting glimpses of colour and motion before reaching the lookout via a long spiral ramp bordered by planting selected to complement the sculpture.
At the top, integrated seating offers a quieter pause above the more active areas of the Children’s Garden, with views across the Missouri River valley. After dark, RGB lighting built into the base gives Chorus Ventus a soft luminous presence that maintains the artwork’s role as a landmark without overpowering the surrounding landscape.
Mark Nixon of NEON notes that the project connects a playful moment to the ecology that shaped it, using wind, touch and sound to translate prairie research into a public experience.
Photography by Tom Kessler, with courtesy of v2com
