CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – An exhibition of brightly colored tops has spun its way to UNC-Chapel Hill’s campus.

The temporary exhibition is called Los Trompos – Spanish for “the tops” – and was designed by Mexican artists Héctor Esrawe and Ignacio Cadena as part of an interactive art initiative.

The oversized tops were created using traditional Mexican weaving techniques to bind together nylon ropes and pipes. The design allows students to either spin or just sit and lounge. A number of different designs are scattered throughout the University – from hourglasses to baskets.

The exhibition is on campus through the Ackland Art Museum. Davenne Essif, a Ph.D. student and object-based teaching fellow at the Ackland, said the tops arrived in connection with the University’s recent Arts Everywhere initiative.

“It’s an initiative taken to really promote this idea that arts are everywhere,” she said. “Any space can be an artistic space. Anyone can participate in art making and art appreciation. And so these tops, these spinning tops, are placed throughout campus.”

In the past, the Ackland has struggled to have a presence on campus. Low visitor numbers allow the staff to find ways to creatively draw in people.

Los Trompos and the Arts Everywhere initiative are both efforts to make people on campus more aware about the Ackland, Essif said.

The tops will be spinning around the University until September. Essif hopes that students understand the importance of engaging with art even after the exhibition leaves campus.

“Public works of art can bring together people that wouldn’t normally interact,” she said. “Put them on the same playing field and get them to realize the humanity in each other. They’re bringing multiple levels of people together.”