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You would have to be a person who loves the inner ear, and knows what it looks like anatomically speaking, to see what I see. I was in NYC July 2014 for the Open Forum ENT Meeting. When exiting my hotel to walk to the conference, I had to cross Park Avenue. For those of you familiar with NYC, they usually have sculptures in the median where they feature a new artist every year.

ear sculpture

This year, the artist was Alice Aycock. She created a series of huge sculptures made out of metal. This sculpture reminded me of the inner ear with the circular patterns on the bottom right being the cochlea for hearing, and the swirls on the top and left being the vestibular system and its semi-circular canals.

Here is an anatomical drawing of the inner ear system:

Inner Ear

This drawing was taken from the NASA website for teachers and educators. Click here to check it out.

I don’t know what Alice Ayock’s inspiration was for this sculpture, but if you ask me, it’s an inner ear…The artist entitled this work Hoop-La, and if you are talking about the inner ear system, I understand what all the Hoop La is about… Do you?

Sculpture by Alice Aycock entitled Hoop-La (2014), Park Avenue Paper Chase, Painted aluminum & steel