Saturday, July 14, 2012

sit back.relax.enjoy the flight.

I've noticed one thing about being at the airport.

In the departure area, I always feel great. I love flying so I'm usually excited about the flight and relaxed at the same time. I also feel like having all the time in the world. On the other hand, at the arrival zone, I tend to hurry, feel nervous and quite disoriented. What helps in developing these negative feelings are those endless corridors, escalators which usually take you downwards and long passport control lines. I think every airport should try to make the arrival area more welcoming for freshly landed travelers. For me, some sort of intriguing art piece would do the trick.

So I started exploring and discovered that many airports have implemented this idea of welcoming their passengers with fascinating art pieces which really have the power of turning your thoughts in another direction. Here are my favorites.

First, Toronto Pearson Airport: "Earthbound-Unbound", installation from 2003. by Ingo Maurer.


Endless number of cubes floating in a giant water tank. This actually reminds me of one of my favorite toys when I was a kid. It was a small water tank with colorful rings floating around and the aim was to put those rings onto two needles with the help of water pressure.


Photo via svele/nebo on Flickr

The second favorite, San Hose Airport, the "eCloud" installation from 2010, designed by artists Dan GoodsNik Hafermaas, and Aaron Koblin.

eCloud consists of hundreds of panels, similar to the computer screen, which fade from opaque to transparent states. The cloud actually "listens" to the real weather conditions from around the world and every few minutes the cloud depicts the weather in a different city and a nearby dynamic display shows the detailed weather data for that city. So at certain times, the cloud can appear as an angry thundercloud and in the next moment it can appear as fog.

Photo via Dan Goods

And finally,  Singapore Changi Airport, "Kinetic Rain" from 2012, designed by ART+COM.

Kinetic Rain is composed of 1.216 perfectly sculpted,bronze droplets hanging from the steel ropes whose hypnotic moves are powered by a computer-controlled motor hidden in the ceiling.

Photos via ART+COM
"Kinetic Rain" Changi Airport Singapore from ART+COM on Vimeo.

This is claimed to be the world's largest kinetic sculpture at the moment. Not really sure if that is the truth but it doesn't really matter. I definitely wouldn't mind being stuck at Singapore Airport and watching this for hours.