Boston artist Don Eyles has installed a new floating sculpture in Boston's Fort Point Channel.

A crowd of about 40 witnessed and assisted the launching just before 3:00 AM on Sunday June 26, a time chosen because a high tide was required for the launch. The new sculpture is moored in the Fort Point Channel upstream of the Summer Street Bridge.

The sculpture is titled "Pyramis Redux". It takes the form of a pyramid 16 feet square at the base and 10 feet high. It appears to be constructed of granite paving stones although the actual material is polystyrene.

"The piece is based on a simple geometrical form, which gives it the authority to play counterpoint to the strong shapes of the urban setting. Combined with its reflection in calm water, 'Pyramis' is perceived as a regular octahedron made up of eight equilateral triangles. That is the shape identified by Plato with the element air," according to the artist.

Eyles compares the process of installing a floating sculpture to a space mission. "There is a long period of conception, design, procurement, tool-building, and construction, followed by a hectic period of final assembly and launch — which must occur at a time determined by astronomy. After that the artifact is on its own and no one knows what will happen. The environment is harsh and each sculpture will have it's own experience."

Beginning last Friday evening, prefabricated components limited to the size of a doorway were brought outside and fastened together inside a wooden cradle positioned at the edge of the Fort Point Channel. By Saturday afternoon the sculpture stood complete. Early Sunday morning, with a moderate breeze blowing from the south, the launch cradle was tipped and "Pyramis" slid into the dark waters of the Fort Point Channel. Accompanied by artist Jeff Smith, Eyles rowed out in a small boat to attach the sculpture to a mooring that had been installed the previous week.

The artist returned to shore to thank all the individuals who helped install the object, including attorney Douglas Matthews; artists Andrew Neumann, Andrew Grad, Steve Hollinger, Jim Kalambokis, Tom Fitzgibbon, Peter Harris, and Smith; Denise Bosco, Anne Salemme, Laird Nolan, Tim White, and John Keay; the captain of the schooner Harvey Gamage; the two prominent attorneys who loaned the leaky dinghy; and many others. This project was privately funded.

"Pyramis Redux" is the fifth in a series of geometrical sculptures installed in the Fort Point Channel by Eyles. The previous sculptures were "Pyramid", launched in October, 1998; "Icosahedron", June 2000; "Gnomon", June 2001; and "Peer Amid", June 2002. Eyles is also a photographer who has extensively photographed the "Big Dig".