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Public Art
Reflecting our history - celebrating the present
Artwork has always been a critical component of the Phoenix Convention Center - from its opening in 1972 to present day. Through the city of Phoenix's Percent for Arts program, a percentage of the expansion construction costs were set aside for public art.
"Art is a Guaranty of Sanity," Louise Bourgeois - A monumental, 90-foot mirror sculpture, located in the West Building atrium. The mirror face is highly polished steel, cut into shapes derived from a drawing of a spider web - a reoccurring theme in much of her work. Visitors will see themselves and the atrium space dynamically reflected in the mirror's surface. The mirror also reflects one of Bourgeois's hallmark phrases, which also serves as the title for the piece: "Art is a Guaranty of Sanity."
"Million Colors," Tony Oursler - Five video installations projected directly onto the architectural surfaces of the convention center arcade space between the West Building Atrium and Monroe Street entrance. The videos feature local theatre actors reciting poetic vignettes about Arizona.
"Night Blooming Garden," Beliz Brother - One hundred forty-four blue and green LED runway lights arranged in arcs along the sidewalks around the Phoenix Convention Center campus. The lights are designed to replicate a night-blooming cereus plant of the Sonoran Desert and will gently influence pedestrian movement surrounding the convention center facilities.
"Social Invertebrates," Tom Otterness - Three large, whimsical bronze sculptures of desert creatures, enlarged to human scale. The creatures include a millipede with a hat and shoes; a walking stick in high heels, and a scorpion holding two small men in top hats tugging at a bag of money. Accompanying sculptural elements of people, scaled down to Lilliputian dimensions, interact with the creatures. The sculptures are set in a unique water-harvesting garden at the public plaza located near the southeast entrance of the North Building.
"Southern Exposure," Jamex and Einar de la Torre - Two large-scale, sentry figures, inspired by the columnar figures at Tula, Mexico. Constructed of a set of stacked glass boxes fitted into figure forms, they contain blown glass objects, found objects and cultural artifacts reflecting the contemporary culture and the history of Arizona and the larger Southwest.
"Halo," William Bennie and Kim Cridler - A wreath-like sculpture suspended over the Monroe Street ballroom entry. The sculpture employs a conical ring of interwoven agave leaves, framed and supported by a grid-like structure. The form references the multiple meanings of a wreath as denoting good luck; transformation through regeneration, like the Phoenix itself; and the ring of continuity, life, and cyclic time.
"Arizona Handshake," Stephen Farley - Ten 3' x 10' photographic tile panels depicting diverse individuals shaking hands as a symbol of welcome, economic prosperity, congratulations, assistance and community. Located on 5th Street, outside of the entrance to the Metro Marche.
"A Moment at the Narrows," Troy Moody - Water- and landscape-inspired terrazzo flooring designs featured in two locations of the North
Building. The designs are inspired by the topography of Arizona and the fragmented profiles of the Grand Canyon cliff face, which follow the irregular contours of the stone up to the vast blue sky.
"Arizona Beach," Hirotsune Tashima - A series of humorous stoneware ceramic sculptures, intended to point to the power of growth and to encourage people to live fully. Located in the food court area inside the North Building, the playful group of sculptures mixes native flora and fauna and contemporary cultural references with the idea of a desert "beach."
"The Earth Dreaming," Isaiah Zagar - A colorful mosaic of tile murals at the Third Street and Monroe Street entrance which creates Phoenix and Arizona-specific imagery within the mural.
"Bola Ties" - Michael Maglich located at the South Convention Center and behind Symphony Hall.
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