A Forest of Art That Grows on Museum Visitors in New York 12 August 2010 Photo : Tim Rooney Inside Big Bambu with a view of New York CityShare ThisDigg Yahoo ! Buzz Facebook del . icio . us StumbleUpon Double - click any word to find the definition in the Merriam - Webster Learner ' s DictionaryOr download MP 3 ( Right - click or option - click and save link ) DOUG JOHNSON : Welcome to American Mosaic in VOA Special English . ( MUSIC ) I ’ m Doug Johnson . Today we celebrate our thirteen - hundredth show on Friday the thirteenth with music from the band Arcade Fire , and a story about a huge shopping center in Minnesota . But first let ’ s walk among the bamboo … on top of one of the most famous museums in the world . ( MUSIC ) Big BambuDOUG JOHNSON : Imagine a piece of artwork that combines sculpture , building design , performance — and trees . Artists and twin brothers Doug and Mike Starn and a team of rock climbers have been building a work called “ Big Bambu ” since April . This sculpture is on the roof of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City . It has been a huge hit with summer visitors . Shirley Griffith has more . SHIRLEY GRIFFITH : From a distance , Big Bambu looks like a huge nest in the shape of a wave . Parts of the sculpture extend up to twelve meters high . This nest is made up of thousands of pieces of bamboo tied together with the kind of brightly colored rope usually used by mountain climbers . It may seem disorderly , but the placement of each piece of bamboo has been carefully planned . The full title of this work is " Big Bambu : You Can ’ t , You Don ’ t and You Won ’ t Stop . ” The second part of the title is taken from a song by the Beastie Boys . Doug and Mike Starn chose this title to bring attention to the fact that their sculpture is about growth and change . The artists have been adding new areas to the sculpture all summer , so it is slowly changing . They plan to continue working on it until the end of October when it will be taken apart . The sculpture is made up of small individual parts . They say it shows the interconnected dependency that all humans have on each other . The bamboo is a natural product harvested in the states of Georgia and South Carolina . The artists chose bamboo because it is light , strong and can survive all kinds of weather . They have compared the pathways on the sculpture to the arteries in the human body . Visitors can experience Big Bambu in two ways . They can walk under and around the sculpture on the Roof Garden . Or , they can make plans for a guided visit and enter into the sculpture and walk around on its pathways . ( SOUND ) Climbing into Big Bambu is like entering a magical tree - house . The sculpture is exciting because it invites visitors to explore and experience art physically as well as mentally . And , this sculpture permits visitors to climb up into the sky to enjoy an extraordinary -- and temporary -- view of New York City . ( MUSIC ) Mall of AmericaDOUG JOHNSON : Our listener question this week comes from China . Margaret wants to know about the most popular shopping place in America . The largest and most popular shopping mall in the United States is the Mall of America . It is in Bloomington , Minnesota , in the north - central part of the country near the twin cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul . It opened in nineteen ninety - two and cost six hundred fifty million dollars to build . Each year about forty million people visit the Mall of America . Mall officials say four out of ten people who visit have traveled long distances . Visitors come from more than thirty - two countries . Many people stay several days when they visit the mall . There are more than forty hotels within eight kilometers . The Mall of America has more than five hundred twenty stores . It also has more than fifty places to eat . If you lined up all the stores side by side , they would cover a distance of almost seven kilometers . If you stayed only ten minutes in each store , it would take over eighty - six hours to complete your visit . About eleven thousand people work at the Mall of America . During the winter holidays , about thirteen thousand people work there . When the owners designed the mall , they wanted it to be more than just a place to shop and eat . So they made entertainment a big part of their plan . The Nickelodeon Universe is an indoor theme park . It has more than twenty - five rides including several roller coasters . Another popular part of the mall is the Underwater Adventures Aquarium . It holds about five thousand sea animals . Visitors walk through a ninety - one meter glass tube . Sharks and other ocean animals swim above and beside you as you walk through the tube . Some people who visit the Mall of America have other things on their mind besides sharks , shopping , eating and roller coasters . They go to the Chapel of Love to be married . More than five thousand couples have had their weddings at the Mall of America . More than six hundred fifty million people have visited the Mall of America since it opened eighteen years ago . Now the owners have plans for a large addition . The “ Phase Two ” plan will nearly double the size of the mall . When it is complete , there will be enough room for up to nine hundred stores . ( MUSIC ) Arcade FireDOUG JOHNSON : The band Arcade Fire is very hot right now . It released a new album , “ The Suburbs , ” last week . The band played two sold - out shows at the twenty thousand seat Madison Square Garden in New York City . And director Terry Gilliam filmed one of those concerts for a live video broadcast on YouTube August fifth . Mario Ritter has more on Arcade Fire and its music . MARIO RITTER : Régine Chassagne and Win Butler formed Arcade Fire in Montreal , Canada , in two thousand three . The husband and wife both play several instruments and sing . They are joined in the band by Butler ’ s brother William , Richard Reed Parry , Tim Kingsbury , Sarah Neufeld and Jeremy Gara . The seven musicians produce a big sound , like in “ Wake Up ” from their first album , “ Funeral . ” ( MUSIC ) Arcade Fire was a critical favorite from the beginning . “ Funeral ” came out in two thousand four . Rolling Stone magazine named it the number two rock album of the last ten years . Blender Magazine said it was one of top one hundred indie rock albums of all time . Arcade Fire starting opening in concerts for major bands like U 2 and working with big names like David Bowie . In two thousand seven , Arcade Fire released “ Neon Bible . ” It opened at number two on Billboard Magazine ’ s Top Two Hundred albums chart . “ Neon Bible ” was number one on the rock and indie rock charts . Here is the title track . ( MUSIC ) Arcade Fire has been performing this summer in the United States , Canada and Europe . “ The Suburbs ” opened on Billboard ' s Top Two Hundred Albums at number one . It was already number one in Britain . We leave you with the title track from Arcade Fire ’ s new album , “ The Suburbs . ” ( MUSIC ) DOUG JOHNSON : I ' m Doug Johnson . Our program was written by Dana Demange , Jim Tedder and Caty Weaver , who was also the producer . Join us again next week for AMERICAN MOSAIC , VOA ’ s radio magazine in Special English .