Title: Antipodes. May
also be known as: "Kryptos 2", "Covert Balance"
Date: Approx 1996-1997
Description: This is a sculpture created in 1997 by James Sanborn, of Kryptos fame. Currently it is located at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington D.C.
Medium: Copper, waterjet text, petrified wood
Size: approx. 96 x 75 x 26 in.
The Hirshhorn website lists it as: "Partial Gift of Gilbert and Ann Kinney and Joseph H. Hirshhorn Purchase Fund, by Exchange, 1998 (98.22)"
Sanborn's description of "Covert Balance": "This piece was inspired by
the Kryptos piece I did at the C.I.A. Headquarters. It depicts two
opposing encoded texts, one relating to C.I.A. covert operations and the other
to K.G.B. operations. The two text panels are separated by a petrified
tree which was burned before petrifaction. Its present location at the
Hirshhorn museum on the mall between the U.S. Capitol Building and the
Washington Monument seems to be ultimately appropriate."
Pictures: Many images of the sculpture are available here. Thanks go to the Hirshhorn museum, Nadine Granoff, and the other anonymous photographers who have contributed these photos.
Transcript: A detailed transcript is not yet available (hint hint!), but as a brief summary: The English side of the sculpture appears to repeat over and over the text that is on the Kryptos sculpture at CIA Headquarters. The Cyrillic side appears to have most of the text from Sanborn's Cyrillic Projector, along with an additional ciphertext section which is not on any of Sanborn's other sculptures. Of the four Kryptos sections, three have been deciphered so far (see the Kryptos page for more details). None of the Cyrillic Projector code has yet been solved.
If anyone reading this knows of a solution, or has a transcript available, please let me know!
Additional Information
Conflicting stories have been received as to whether there were 1 or 2 versions of this at the Hirshhorn. At this time, only 1 version is at the Hirshhorn, called "Antipodes". Most of the images in the Antipodes Pictures directory are of Antipodes, though some may be of the "other" version of the sculpture. The image at right was found in a catalog of Sanborn's public works, and was clearly labeled as "Covert Balance" and located at the Hirshhorn Museum, though it's obviously in a different location than the current "Antipodes" sculpture.
Another image from an alternate location, this piece is listed as 'Kryptos' on the ArtNet website by the Numark Gallery, but is probably either Antipodes or the second version that was at the Hirshhorn. More info is in the Artnet listing.
Page created: August 27, 2003 by Elonka
Updates: 9/14/2003: Added more information trying to clarify the differences, if any, between different versions of this sculpture.
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