Cranes in Motion
Art Project
Each winter, ALL helps remove Columbus’ famed overhead fiber sculpture
In Columbus, Ohio, there are sure signs of winter. Days get shorter, temperatures drop, Ohio State basketball starts replacing football on television. And at the intersection of Gay and High Streets,“ Currents” comes down.
Created by artist Janet Echelman, the 229-foot, vibrantly colored, floating fiber sculpture, first installed in 2023, symbolizes the“ current” of energy, the Scioto River and the city’ s history as a hub for electric, gas-lit archways. The sculpture connects the city’ s historic, red-brick, urban grid with its revitalized riverfront.
Most notably, the sculpture is normally suspended more than 100 feet in the air, and that takes some precision lifting— and repeat lifting— seasonally. Currents is assembled from a half-million knots in 78 miles of twine, and for that, the net retires for the cold season because winter moisture can become trapped and form ice, which can dangerously fall back to the ground during thaws.
So, each year in early December, an impressive crew of contractors and equipment assembles to conduct the delicate work of removing Currents from its four anchor points, carefully gathering it up and securely placing it in storage until the spring.
ALL Crane Rental Corp. of Columbus, a member of the ALL Family of Companies, provides the cranes needed to uncouple the sculpture from its anchor points, embedded into the exterior walls
© Downtown Columbus Inc., used with permission.
Columbus, Ohio
© Downtown Columbus Inc., used with permission.
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© ALL Family of Companies February 2026 • www. cranehotline. com