Experience Smoke by Tony Smith

Located in a prominent position near Doha Exhibition and Convention Center, Smoke by American artist Tony Smith was built in 1967. It’s a copy of the original installation which was made of painted plywood. Another version of Smoke can be seen in Los Angeles. This sculpture was so well received by the general public and critics back then that it made the cover of Time Magazine the same year.

This striking 24-foot aluminium sculpture comprises many geometric patterns. In all, the assembled piece has five tetrahedrons, triangular pyramids with four triangular faces, six straight edges, and four vertex corners, and 45 octahedrons, three-dimensional shapes having eight plane faces with eight triangular faces. Although the structure is painted black, its surface reflects sunlight and reveals shadows, making the shapes even more conspicuous.