[This is a slightly different version of a story we wrote for the Pittsburgh International Airport’s Blue Sky News]
View Calder sculptures at Pit Airport
It is black and white, weighs 600 pounds, is 28 feet long and is equally wide in width.
And it’s impossible to miss it Pittsburgh International Airport New ground-edge terminal.
The dynamics phone “Pittsburgh” by renowned artist Alexander Calder has been suspended from the ceiling of the city’s airport terminal for nearly 70 years and has been reinstalled in a brand new terminal atrium space, both as both all travelers and front indoor customers, and also as a warm welcome and farewell.
The phone was first installed in the rotunda of the larger Pittsburgh Airport terminal in 1959, which opened in 1952 and took some time at the Carnegie Art Museum before moving to the current repair station dock in 1992.
As a result, the sculpture has been part of the airport’s art plan since there were even a lot of art plans, said Keny Marshall, art and culture manager at the pit area.
“People just expect to see Calder at the airport,” Marshall said. Although the new Landside terminal is not designed around sculpture, its “prominence location” was determined in collaboration with the architects – Gensler + HDR, working with Luis Vidal + Architects – He said it is necessary to highlight the work and provide a better view to the public.
“Pittsburgh” is made of black steel rods and white aluminum paddles and is balanced so the elements only breeze to allow for moving activation. The work has been in storage for the past two years in preparation for migration to the new terminal.
In a previous location above the Pit Security Airside Center Core, Calder Mobile is located in “a space with a messy architectural space” and few people stop to take the time to check it out, said Alex Taylor, an associate professor of art and architecture history at the University of Pittsburgh, an extension at the University of Pittsburgh staff.
“When I go to the airport, I carry it with me and watch as much work as possible before I have to reach the gate,” Taylor said.
Carol Brown will also ensure access to Calder on a modern terminal trip. The former County Park director painted the sculpture first yellow and green (the color of Allegheny County) when he incorrectly hung the sculpture in the old terminal, and then pink. After the recovery, Brown advocated putting it in the then 1992 terminal.
“When I pass the terminal, I always stop and say ‘Hi, Calder’. I look forward to saying that again in the new terminal,” Brown said.
This is easy to do. In the new Landside terminal, the phone will hang in a large open atrium space and ignore multiple viewing angles, Marshall said.
Experts from Ohio McKay Lodge Art Conservation Laboratorythe company that lowered Calder from its previous location and packed up the storage will untie the sculpture on hand and backed up it.
This would be an unusual challenge. A special lift is needed to connect the sculpture to the ceiling of the new dock, which is nearly 80 feet high.
Luckily, Pit Airport has a special piece of machinery – the Teupen Leo 26 aviation elevator, which can handle the task easily, says Renee Piechocki, a long-time public art consultant at PIT.
And, since each part of the sculpture is carefully hung, “As soon as you add a piece, everything changes. It can only be elegantly balanced in the space once the sculpture is fully assembled together,” Marshall said.
When the new terminal opens sometime in October this year, passengers and the public will be able to see the sculptures at the new terminal’s safe front departure level.
On the first floor that arrives, people will be able to look up at the sculpture and walk under it.
Which other airports have Calder sculptures?
(Provided by Calder Foundation of New York/Artist Rights Society)
Other airports have or have used Calder Mobiles.
These include the artist’s 45-foot-long cell phone called “.125” (Part 1), which is currently hanging in the departure hall of the Terminal 4 of John F. Kennedy International Airport.
A Calder phone called “Brass in the Sky” once hung in Marshallfield & Co at Chicago Midway Airport. cloud room restaurant.
A 40-foot-wide Calder work titled “Red, Black and Blue” from Dallas Love Field (DAL) to Dallas Worth International Airport (DFW) and Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport (MKE) before eventually landing at Milwaukee Museum of Art.
Pit’s Calder Mobile is now worth about $12 million, and is probably the most valuable and famous piece in the airport’s growing collection of art.
“But you don’t need an arts degree to understand why it’s at the heart of the new terminal,” Piechocki said.
Like multi-layer sculptures, Piechocki believes that in its new space, there will be multiple layers of response to mobile devices.
For those who are already familiar with the existing terminal sculptures, she hopes the reaction is “Wow, they finally gave Calder what he deserves. Looks great.”
For those who have never been to Pittsburgh, the one who knows the art might be: “Oh my God! Is that a Gasther?”
For someone who is a little frivolous and feels stressed at the airport, they may know nothing about art? Piechocki hoped they could pass the sculpture, “subconsciously relieve the stress as they watched a beautiful thing move through the air.”
Here is a snapshot of the Calder sculpture of Pit recently installed. We can’t wait to see it in person!
(All photos are available at Pittsburgh International Airport unless indicated).
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