Sydney Olympic Park, The Attractor

The Attractor is a monument in Overflow Park at Sydney Olympic Park built for the Sydney 2000 Summer Olympics. This 25 metre ladder symbolises the fundamental principles of Olympism which also apply to human endeavours. It was inspired by an illustration in a book by seventeenth century metaphysicist Robert Fludd. The six rungs of the ladder bear a word, from the lowest rung upwards: sensus, imaginatio, ratio, intellectus, intelligentia, verbum. According to the artist "the giant ladder as a symbol of ascession has an obvious meaning in the context of sport and the Olympics - it suggests the desire to ascend, to scale heights, to climb up, to improve, to achieve to transcend one's limitations".