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A person in a white sweater and jeans lies inside a large, hollowed gray rock sculpture, whispering through a stone, while another sits partially inside a separate opening—both resting on a concrete floor.

Whispering Through a Stone

Artist: Janine Antoni
Year:2025
Location:332 Miracle Mile, Coral Gables, FL
Commissioned by:City of Coral Gables, FL
Dimensions:18,210 lb carved granite boulder, 57 ¾ x 98 3/16 x 69 in (146.7 x 249.4 x 175.3 cm)
Photo Credits:©2025 Daniel Portnoy & Quarra’s Internal Photos
Courtesy:© Janine Antoni; Courtesy of the artist and Luhring Augustine, New York

Project Overview
Whispering Through a Stone is a permanent public artwork by artist Janine Antoni. Inspired by the 19th-century “conversation chair,” the piece invites two sitters to engage in private dialogue within a public setting. Carved into a single granite boulder, two seats face one another, connected by a whisper-hole at ear-to-mouth height. The sculpture creates an intimate, participatory experience while preserving the boulder’s natural exterior.
A robotic arm carves a smooth, flat surface into a large, rough stone inside an industrial facility with gray cinder block walls.

Quarra’s Role
Quarra Stone collaborated with Urban Art Projects to fabricate the work, transforming an 18,210-pound granite boulder into a functional sculpture. Our scope included:

  • Digital modeling and scanning to capture the natural form of the boulder and ensure accuracy.
  • Robotic milling and precision wiresaw cutting (using Quarra’s robotic system, “Clementine”), running up to 18 hours per day over multiple weeks.
  • Hand finishing and detailing to refine the carved interiors, balancing precision with the natural integrity of the stone.
  • Final surface contrast— polished interior seating areas versus the untouched, rough exterior surface.
A large stone with a smooth, shiny black cavity is being sculpted by a machine inside an industrial workshop with brick walls and exposed pipes.

The completed work demonstrates how advanced digital fabrication and traditional stone craft can merge to realize an artist’s vision. Whispering Through a Stone is both sculptural and functional, inviting visitors to pause, listen, and connect through the medium of stone. Whispering Through a Stone demonstrates how advanced digital fabrication and traditional handcraft can merge to realize an artist’s vision at monumental scale.

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Quarra Stone