about SFO

the art of Terminal 2

The remodel of San Francisco International Airport’s Terminal 2 (T2) presented the Arts Commission with two exciting opportunities: to commission new and dynamic work by local and national artists of outstanding merit and to re-install important work by leading local, national and international artists from the Airport’s collection. San Francisco’s Art Enrichment Ordinance, which mandates that 2% of the total eligible construction costs of civic building projects be allocated for public art, ensured the funds for T2’s expansive public art program. From the outset, Arts Commission staff worked with the Airport Design Team, Airport Staff and the Airport Museums to incorporate art into T2’s design.

In July 2008, the Airport and Arts Commission approved a plan that called for commissioning three large signature artworks for the Terminal’s glass façade, entry lobby mezzanine area and the post security recompose area. In addition, two interactive artworks would be commissioned for the children’s play areas. The Arts Commission issued a national request for qualifications and received 530 responses. The finalists were selected by a panel comprised of members from the Airport Museums Program Airport Design Team, the Arts Commission, as well as three prominent arts professionals.

The selected artists (listed below), are currently at work completing the final design work on their proposed projects.

Proposal for Entry Lobby Mezzanine Area

• Artist: Kendall Buster, Richmond, VA
• Working title: Topograph

Description:

The proposed sculpture consists of two 24’x 24’x16’ conversant forms suspended on either side of the mezzanine above the departure lobby. The project reflects the artist’s ongoing interest in the merging of natural and built environments and her investigations into forms that operate at once as landscape and architecture. Suggesting a topography map, the sculptures consist of stacked, shaped planes made from powder-coated steel tubing and greenhouse shade cloth. The suspended shapes create an illusion that the forms have decompressed and expanded and that the two visible sculptures might be fragments of a larger mysterious mass, like clouds. The sculpture may be interpreted in many ways, but the suggestion of immateriality—a frozen moment before a totally new form emerges—is the artist’s objective.

Proposal for Post-security Recompose Area

• Artist: Janet Echelman, New York
• Title: Air Ocean

Description:

Janet Echelman’s proposal includes a series of three sculptural forms inspired by the similarity of the physical laws governing the movement of air and water. The sculptures’ large, circular forms are reminiscent of both clouds and sea creatures that move through a “sky ocean”. The artist will use woven material to give the sculptures a delicate, lace-like quality. Despite their large size, approximately 123 feet in circumference for the largest work, her sculptures will have little mass and will feel ephemeral and weightless. In its entirety, Echelman proposes that the artwork carry the viewer from the recompose area to the gate rooms. The artist will also work with the design team to incorporate lighting to make the most out of the highlights and cast shadow patterns.

Proposal for Façade Screen

• Artist: Norie Sato, Seattle, WA
• Title: Air Over Under

Description:

Norie Sato uses the dual experience of either looking up at clouds from the ground or down on them from the air as the basis for her imagery. Covering two 16’ x 150’ areas, the laminated glass installations will use photographic imagery digitized so that depending on the viewer’s distance or point of view, the imagery is either very photographic or more abstract and atmospheric.

Proposal for T2 Children’s Play-Area

• Artist: Walter Kitundu, San Francisco, CA
• Title: TBD

Description:

The artist will create two wooden benches shaped like bird wings, which double as musical instruments, installed next to a mural of local birds (Robin, Warbler, Kinglet, Finch, and Thrush) photographed in San Francisco. This mural will also feature a large central bird whose wing feathers are also a musical instrument. The benches and wall instrument take the form of a xylophone or marimba. They are played with rubber mallets. Each instrument is linked to a specific species of bird. When played left to right, a portion of the bird’s song is heard, in a lower register. The instruments can also be played freely, and they are tuned so that they can be played together harmoniously.

Proposal for T2 Children’s Play-Area

• Artist: Charles Sowers, San Francisco, CA
• Title: TBD

Description:

Charles Sowers proposes to create a wall of kinetic sculptures suspended on cables that resemble butterflies or whirly-gigs. The viewer will activate several sculptures at a time by turning a crank that raises a “butterfly” to the ceiling; once there, it “flutters” down to the bottom of the cable.

Re-installing Treasures from the Airport Museum’s Collection

In addition to commissioning and purchasing new work for T2, the Arts Commission has made it a priority to re-install artwork from the Airport’s collection that either is currently or was historically installed in T2, or has been in storage and should be re-installed.

When T2 was originally built as an international terminal, three major sculptures by important international artists, Rufino Tamayo, Seiji Kunishima and Arnold Pomodoro, were purchased/commissioned. Of these, Kunishima’s Stacking Stones will remain in place, wrapped for protection during construction. The companion paintings by Marc Katano that historically flanked the sculpture will be returned to that site after construction. Pomodoro’s sculpture, Cilandro Costruito, has been in storage and will be re-installed on level 1. Rufino Tamayo’s Conquest of Space will be placed at the north end of the International Terminal drop off, near the BART entrance.

An important priority for the Arts Commission is the re-installation of three beautiful tapestries by Marc Adams that depict garden imagery from local San Francisco and Bay Area sites. In storage for over 20 years, these tapestries will once again enjoy pride of place at SFO when they are hung in the Greeters Lounge.

San Francisco artist Dan Snyder’s joyous Welcome Wall, which was originally commissioned for the old International Terminal arrivals area until it was displaced, will be relocated to the T2 arrivals area.

Also scheduled to be re-installed are paintings by important Bay Area painters such as Joan Brown, Willard Dixon, Roy de Forrest, Hassel Smith, Sam Tchakalian, Wade Hoefer and others.

About the San Francisco Arts Commission and the Public Art Program

The San Francisco Arts Commission (SFAC) is the City agency that champions the arts in San Francisco. We believe that a creative cultural environment is essential to the City’s well-being. Established by charter in 1932, SFAC programs integrate the arts into all aspects of City life. Programs include: Civic Art Collection, Civic Design Review, Community Arts & Education, Cultural Equity Grants, Public Art, SFAC Gallery, Street Artists Licensing, and the Summer in the City Concert Series. The agency’s core values are committed to the principle that all residents have equal access to arts experiences in all disciplines, that programs are provided comprehensively and evenly throughout the City, and that they are innovative and of the highest quality.

The Arts Commission’s Public Art Program was established by the City Arts Enrichment Ordinance in 1969, as one of the first of its kind in the country. The Public Art Program seeks to promote a diverse and stimulating cultural environment to enrich the lives of the city’s residents, visitors and employees. The Program encourages the creative interaction of artists, designers, city staff, officials and community members during the design of City projects in order to develop public art that is specific to the site and meaningful to the community.

SFAC Public Art website: www.sfartscommission.org/pubartcollection