Red Lotus Breathing Flower

This sculpture is across the street from the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, and the idea is a simple one. The 24 foot flower has motorized fabric petals that seem to fill and empty of air so that they open and close to simulate the movement of a live lotus flower.  It may not sound like something you want to see, but you really do.  It is spectacular.  The day I was there it was just too cold and windy to really spend the kind of time watching the movement that the sculpture deserves, but bring a picnic, sit on the lawn of the museum across the street from the sculpture and spend time watching it's every movement.
 It was created by Korean artist Choi Jeong Hwa as part of an exhibit about how the past influences the present, that artists take some of the cultural sensibilities from their ancestors and update it for a contemporary audience.  I didn't love the exhibit as a whole, but this installation was a lot of fun and beautiful to watch.