{"id":361578,"date":"2026-08-03T15:12:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T15:12:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/361578\/"},"modified":"2026-08-03T15:12:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T15:12:12","slug":"the-future-of-the-piers-net-sculpture-is-blowin-in-the-wind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/361578\/","title":{"rendered":"The future of The Pier\u2019s \u2018net\u2019 sculpture is blowin\u2019 in the wind"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 2025 coffee-table book Radical Softness: The Responsive Art of Janet Echelman devotes 300 full-color pages to the works of the Tampa-born artist, whose elevated woven sculptural installations appear in 38 cities on four continents.<\/p>\n

The book\u2019s editors pay special attention to Bending Arc, which was created for the St. Pete Pier, and installed there in 2020. In photo after photo, the 424\u00d7280-foot net-like sculpture billows in the St. Petersburg breeze, 72 feet above the ground, its form ever-changing. The artwork\u2019s strong PTFE (Polytetrafluoroethylene) twine fibers, 180 miles of them (with 1,662,528 knots), are blue and white. At night, an LED lighting system changes the piece\u2019s colors, mood and profile.<\/p>\n

Bending Arc arrived with great fanfare and floated over a grassy field, near the Glazer Family Playground, for almost four years.<\/p>\n

Yet the largest and most lauded public artwork in St. Petersburg\u2019s history has been in a crate since Feb. 10, 2025. After significant hurricane damage, the 5,000-pound, complex system of twines and ropes was taken down and placed in storage, before Radical Softness had even gone to print.<\/p>\n

No one, it appears, can agree on just what should be done with the $1.5 million \u201cfloating sculpture,\u201d which was paid for entirely through private donations, from people who just wanted to see such a thing here. The City allocated an additional $1.3 million in tax increment financing to pay for the infrastructure and installation; another $250,000 came from the Public Arts Commission.<\/p>\n

City records indicate serious differences in opinion between Echelman and Brejesh Prayman, Director of St. Petersburg Engineering and Capital Improvements, and City Development Administrator James Corbett, along with engineering and research firms and repair companies.<\/p>\n

While the finger-pointing rages on, Bending Arc remains locked up tight.<\/p>\n

A May 21, 2026 memorandum, written by Prayman and addressed to Corbett, outlined the situation, vis a vis the sculpture (the \u201cNet\u201d), the City\u2019s conversations with Massachusetts-based Studio Echelman (JEI), and prospective study and repairs. The ultimate goal is re-installation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe City, both as an owner and a financer of the Net, has an interest in its reinstallation and conservation,\u201d wrote Prayman, \u201cprovided that the sculptural net can be reattached (with proper materials and structural knots) to achieve its remaining 20-year service life and meet the code-required 155 mph wind loads.\u201d<\/p>\n

And, he told Corbett, there is a proposed plan:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe City intends for this effort to be led by a qualified materials science and forensic engineering firm Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc. (WJE),\u201d it read. \u201cKey to making this determination is the testing of sections of the Net. WJE has advised that the only way in which this testing can be performed is if it receives samples from the Net; any such samples would have to be cut from the Net and be sent to WJE for testing. The City has requested the artist\u2019s (\u201cJEI\u201d) permission to have samples cut from the Net for such testing; JEI has denied the requested permission.\u201d<\/p>\n

Echelman told Prayman last month that cutting samples \u201cwill degrade the structure and aesthetics of the artwork.\u201d<\/p>\n

In an August 2025 conversation with the Catalyst, Echelman was already questioning the additional cost and delay of the City\u2019s continued desire for testing. A December 2024 inspection and report by the independent engineering consultant Stantec, she believed, had laid bare the primary cause of the failure.<\/p>\n

\u201cStantec\u2019s report concluded that the problem resulted from the connections between my net sculpture and the structural ropes,\u201d she said, \u201cwhich were lashings tied by the City\u2019s insured contractor, who used substandard materials and methods.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy studio\u2019s role was to create the aesthetic design for the art, and the City\u2019s engineer was responsible to specify materials and methods in stamped construction documents. Then my studio\u2019s job was to accurately follow the engineer\u2019s construction drawings, which were engineered to withstand Category 5 hurricanes.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ: Stantec report and recommendations re: Bending Arc<\/a><\/p>\n

Prayman memo (May 2026): \u201cIn actuality, the Net had failed months earlier, in June 2024, and the City\u2019s contractor, in subsequently attempting to repair the Net, utilized a more aggressive lashing technique, over and above what was originally contemplated in the construction documents. These repairs were ultimately unsuccessful, but the failure of the repairs cannot be solely attributed to the failure of the Net when the lashing technique set forth in the construction documents failed as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

The memo continued: \u201cThe City has continued to coordinate with JEI, at times facilitating weekly or biweekly calls, (including weekends); however, conversations have not yielded forward progress, as JEI has repeatedly provided guidance that it has later retracted or contradicted.\u201d<\/p>\n

Therefore, the stalemate continues.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe cost and logistics for reattaching the sculptural net cannot be determined without the completion of a forensic analysis,\u201d Prayman wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we near the end of the summer, I am keenly aware of how important it is to restore this artwork to the St. Pete Pier for people to enjoy,\u201d Echelman said in an email to the Catalyst today. \u201cAs an artist, I dedicated myself to creating this artwork for visitors to sit beneath and experience nature as the wind and light transform the sculpture. My highest goal is to return the sculpture as soon as possible, and I stand ready to support the city with our knowledge and expertise to restore the work to the people of St. Pete.\u201d<\/p>\n

Neither Prayman nor Corbett responded to multiple requests for comment for this story.<\/p>\n

Mayor Ken Welch was asked about the issue at a July 21 event. \u201cI\u2019d like to be sure it\u2019s going to be safe, and sustainable,\u201d he said. \u201cWe don\u2019t want that coming down on somebody, or have any other issues with it. And I think it\u2019s worth waiting until we\u2019re sure about that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bending Arc: A timeline<\/p>\n

January 2020. Bending Arc is installed by city workers at the under-construction St. Pete Pier. An \u201cissue\u201d with the structural ropes that connect the supporting pylons to the art is quickly discovered, requiring the sculpture to be taken down, assessed and re-hung. Echelman: \u201cIt\u2019s not atypical to make adjustments once the work is viewed onsite.\u201d Net House of Cocoa Beach removes, crates and ships it ($26,685) to Diamond Nets, in Washington State, for the needed adjustments. Echelman reimburses the City for the cost of removal, shipping and repair.<\/p>\n

June 11, 2020. Bending Arc is re-attached, using a \u201ctemporary anchoring system.\u201d<\/p>\n

July 4, 2020. The 26-acre St. Pete Pier opens.<\/p>\n

August 2020. The Pier closes for two mornings while workers attach Bending Arc to \u201cpermanent anchors.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ MORE: \u2018I couldn\u2019t be more delighted\u2019: Janet Echelman looks back on a year at the Pier<\/a><\/p>\n

2021-2023: Annual inspections by Net House indicate no issues with the sculpture.<\/p>\n

August, September and October 2024. Cumulative damage from Hurricanes Debby, Helene and Milton tear loose some of the connecting ropes, causing Bending Arc to noticeably sag. Although some detachment is visible post-Debby<\/a>, Milton\u2019s sustained winds, which reach a verified 180 miles per hour, do the most damage; sections of the sculpture touch the ground and become entangled with Adirondack chairs and other outdoor furniture.<\/p>\n

December 23, 2024. Hired by the City, engineering consultant Stantec issues its report on the condition of the sculpture. Using a telescopic boom mobile crane, the company photographs the highest attached, and unattached, sections of the \u201cNet.\u201d Stantec also determines the cross-seizing connections (the \u201changing twine\u201d) had been incorrectly installed, in direct opposition to the original plans from Studio Echelman. Stantec concludes that a failure in the connections led to entire sections of the sculptural net becoming detached from its structural ropes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt can be concluded,\u201d reads the report, \u201cthat the breakage of the cross seizing is the preeminent failure mode contributing to the sagging of the net sculpture. Field observation indicates that weather exposure and discrepancies between how the cross seizing was installed vs. how it was detailed in the plans likely contributed to its damage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Feb. 10, 2025. Net House takes Bending Arc down. \u201cI think we should wait and see what the repair is going to be, and how long it\u2019s going to take,\u201d Echelman tells the Catalyst. \u201cBut I would like everybody to rest assured that we\u2019re all working on it and we\u2019re going to get them their artwork back as soon as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

March 2026. \u201cJEI (Echelman) agreed to work with the City, and agreed to pay for the repairs to the sculptural net, while the City covered the cost of shipping and reattaching the sculptural net. JEI later retracted this offer at the Recurring Coordination Meeting of May 1st, 2026.\u201d (According to City memorandum of May 21).<\/p>\n

\u201cJEI suggested that the sculptural net be sent to the original fabricator (Diamond Nets) for repairs at the City\u2019s expense. JEI further asserted that the only way to guarantee the structural integrity of the Net was to take down the structural rope (currently still in place) and have it reconnected to the sculptural net in the factory by Diamond Nets. This process would significantly disrupt Pier operations and would result in extremely high reinstallation costs.\u201d (According to City memorandum of May 21).<\/p>\n

April 30, 2026. \u201c(Echelman) informed the City that JEI would not enter into an agreement to facilitate repairing the Net but would rather assist and advise.\u201d (According to City memorandum of May 21).<\/p>\n

May 21, 2026. \u201cThe City is concerned that without a proper forensic structural evaluation by an independent professional engineering firm \u2026 there can be no guarantee that the repaired sculptural net can be safely reattached to the structural net and provide the contractual remaining service life and survive both normal degradation of the material due to the elements as well as any future Hurricanes with wind gusts up to 155 mph.\u201d (City memorandum).<\/p>\n

July 2, 2026: Email from Prayman to Echelman reiterates that WJE, in order to conduct a \u201cforensic analysis\u201d of the net, will need to cut a 24\u201dx24\u201d square out of the sculpture in order to take samples. This email is followed up with a Zoom call.<\/p>\n

July 16, 2026: Email from Echelman to Prayman: \u201cI cannot support or give permission to cut my sculpture because our experience is that a plan like what you have proposed will degrade the structure and aesthetics of the artwork, which is owned by the City and funded by private donors.<\/p>\n

She then recommends \u201ctwo internationally recognized research institutions which are ready to properly provide the research needed at the same or lower cost than WJE\u2019s proposal\u201d and reiterates Stantec\u2019s conclusion that \u201cthe cause of failure is not the net; it is the contractor\u2019s use of substandard methods and materials \u2026 so it does not make sense to cut the net for testing when it will degrade the artwork.\u201d<\/p>\n

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2021: A drum circle underneath \u201cBending Arc.\u201d Photo: Studio Echelman.<\/p>\n

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