Transport Beautiful

In my first before post before my departure, I wrote that I was going to have my eye out of on beautiful transportation during my fellowship. Ever since I had the honor and privledge of being involved with the How Philly Moves project at the Philadelphia International Airport, my appreciation for  public art has been amplified. I want to share with you three of my favorite pieces of public art at transportation hubs that I encountered in the last five weeks. 

The first is at the Brisbane Airport. Like How Philly Moves, the canvas is the side of an airport garage, in Brisbane, the California based artist Ned Kahn suspends more than 117,000 shimmering aluminum panels attached to a steel structure over eight stories covering nearly 54,000 square feet.  The piece was inspired by the Brisbane River and is apparently untitled.  

The second is the Dome of Light installation at the Formosa Boulevard Station of the Kaohsiung MRT by Narcissus Quagliata. The dome is the world's largest public art installation made from individual pieces of colored glass and  thematically addresses four stages of life Water: The Womb of Life; Earth: Prosperity and Growth; Light: The Creative Spirit; and Fire: Destruction and Rebirth. This glass installation is illuminated in the evening and transforms the main connecting point for Kaohsiung’s two metro lines into a modern cathedral like setting that is a destination unto itself.

 

The last is City in a box: Minature Taipei Octology by Feng Jan Huang at the Taipei Metro’s  Zhongxiao Fuxing station. It is part of a temproary exhibit installed by the Taipei Museum of Contemporary Art. I can only imagine the reception that this piece might receive by some art critiques for its cartoonish presentation. Upon close examination the complexity of this temporary installation is evident. The miniature scenes shown in each of the eight window boxes are as whimsical as they technically impressive.  I passed by this piece no less than two dozen times in the 10 days I spent in Taipei. Every time I passed MRT passengers were engaging with the boxes.  Seems like a successful installation to me.