New artwork is coming to Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, likely to be installed in late 2019, and you're invited to help shape it.
Jen Lewin, known for whimsical interactive sculptures, will create a piece to span Terminal 1's arrivals and departures levels (an opening in the floor will accommodate the multilevel artwork). Light and sound, activated by sensors when people approach, animate many of her pieces — and make the public unwitting participants.
Now the artist is also asking the public to knowingly participate in her upcoming work's very creation.
Lewin and the Metropolitan Airports Commission held a trio of events last week, inviting Minnesotans to share their ideas. They are also inviting people to fill out an online survey that will help guide and inspire the New York artist (it's at tinyurl.com/y8ex2vpj). I just completed the survey, a fun exercise in thinking about what Minnesota means to you. (I puzzled over the last question, which asks for five words to describe Minnesotans, thinking it could elicit stereotypes. I finally answered with this: diverse, determined, all, are, unique.)
Anyone who has visited the Be the Match building near Target Field has seen Lewin's work. She is the mastermind behind the Sidewalk Harp, a wavy relief along an exterior wall that lights up and plays musical notes with the brush of a hand.
MAC expects the artwork to be designed by the end of this year and installed in late 2019.
Lewin was selected by a committee, including Jay Coogan of the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Mohammed Lawal of Minneapolis-based LSE Architects and Lyndel King of the Weisman Art Museum, who recently announced her retirement.
Nearly 23 million travelers pass through MSP each year and will experience this piece of art, according to Tom Anderson, chair of the Arts@MSP Steering Committee.
