ArtSEA: The state of art at Climate Pledge Arena
The new laminated glass windows installations by Northwestern artists enliven the Seattle Center venue and return to the future of the World Expo.The new atrium of the Climate Commitment Arena is equipped with multiple LED screens to display the forest scene in the northwestern region. (Blankin Davis/Crosscut)
In 1962, when visitors to the Seattle World's Fair entered the brand new Washington State Stadium, they saw the "Tomorrow's World" exhibition, promising to see the future in the 21st century. In 2021, the building will be unveiled again-as a climate promise arena-and promise a new future, a state-of-the-art rock concert... and trees full of storms and kraken sports.
As I did at the press conference yesterday, this is the first thing you notice when you walk into the new atrium of the $1.1 billion remodeled arena: a huge LED screen showing the foggy forest of evergreen trees , Their branches move gently in the CGI breeze. (A spokesperson told me that these videos can also show the winding seabed scenes of underwater divers.)
These screens are designed to reflect the "climate commitment" in this embarrassing name-reminding us that this is the world's first carbon-neutral arena, with solar panels, electric Zamboni, huge plant walls and compostable tableware .
There are several large works elsewhere on the walls of the arena, including a surrealist landscape by Seattle artist Aramis O. Hamer, featuring waterfalls, tentacles, and images of goddesses (in the Symetra Lounge ), a beautiful screen with moving metal scales will produce different actions. The image at the time of Kraken's score, and the cool “lens-like” image of the Seattle skyline (displayed on the vertical slats), changes as you walk along the long hall to the Kraken locker room.
But most of the commissioned works are outdoors, located around the "Promise" square, so you can see it even if you don't have a ticket. These works join a series of public art installations in the Seattle Center, some of which have been on the grounds since the World Expo. When I was visiting the International Fountain, I found a new "Art Journey" information box — a list of 50 works — installed near the International Fountain, but the QR code map is not ready for prime time.
"La Diab Pish", a glass and stainless steel sculpture of a giant Pacific octopus, designed by Preston Singletary and David Franklin in Climate Pledge Arena. (Blankin Davis/Crosscut)
"La Diab Pish", a glass and stainless steel sculpture of a giant Pacific octopus, designed by Preston Singletary and David Franklin in Climate Pledge Arena. (Blankin Davis/Crosscut)
The arena artwork with the most obvious connection to Kraken's new home is "La Diab Pish", created by the famous northwest glass artist Preston Singletary and sculptor David Franklin. This symmetrical eight-armed octopus is made of laminated red glass and stainless steel. It depicts a giant Pacific octopus in a "pan-coast" native style, paying tribute to the Tlingit tradition of Singletary. When I saw it, the creature was in its best condition, and the sun cast a red light on the concrete. This is part of the city’s recent surge in public art created by indigenous artists, which Crosscut reporter Margo Vansynghel recently explored.
Nearby is "Chikara no Hikari" or "Light of Power," a sparkling glass mosaic mural in dark blue and bright yellow that captures an explosive moment. Seattle artist Norie Sato said that this work is an abstract concept of particle collisions and atomic motion-designed to convey the energy that people merge for movement, music, and movement.
It resonates beautifully with Paul Horiuchi's "Seattle Mural", this 60-foot-long stained glass mosaic has been a vivid backdrop for the band's mural amphitheater since the World Exposition concert. In addition to the techniques used by the artist, the two murals have a greater sense of humanity-in Horiuchi's works, the natural beauty of the northwest; in Sato, the invisible force that pushes us forward.
"Chikara no Hikari", a new glass mosaic by Seattle artist Norie Sato, located in the Southwest Plaza of the Climate Promise Arena. (Blankin Davis/Crosscut)
"Chikara no Hikari", a new glass mosaic by Seattle artist Norie Sato, located in the Southwest Plaza of the Climate Promise Arena. (Blankin Davis/Crosscut)
Opposite the plaza to the north, next to KEXP, is a group of "Axis Lounge" sculptures created by Seattle installation artists Laura Haddad and Tom Drugan. The sculptures—curved wooden waves, shimmering purple geometric clusters, red mosaic walls featuring UFOs, butterflies, zebras and rain clouds—inspired by Jimi Hendrix’s song "Bold as Love."
Music is an indispensable part of the new stage (rather than the reverberant afterthought like KeyArena), KEXP helps to compose the tune of the hockey game, with a built-in recording studio at a lower level and an astonishing number of sound-absorbing baffles hanging on historical landmarks : The iconic roof of architect Paul Thiry in 1962.
"Axis Lounge" has been built as an interactive space, which is irresistible. When I was there, two people were having lunch on the bench in the middle of the sculpture, while the workers were installing the last plants.
The "SeaWave" created by the famous northwest sculptor Gerard Tsutakawa was temporarily magnified shortly after being installed in the Climate Promise Arena. (Blankin Davis/Crosscut)
The "SeaWave" created by the famous northwest sculptor Gerard Tsutakawa was temporarily magnified shortly after being installed in the Climate Promise Arena. (Blankin Davis/Crosscut)
Northwestern artist Gerard Tsutakawa's new sculpture "The Waves" is also listed as an interactive project. The 7-foot-tall round bronze plate on the east side of the arena is designed to evoke endless wind and waves. When I walked by, someone glued a pair of big eyes near the top, making it look less like a tumbling wave, but more like a puppet dancing wildly with a big mouth. This interesting animation may not be the "interactive experience" that art planners want, but it does emphasize the public in public art.
If you are looking at Pledge’s visual art on the way to a Coldplay concert (October 22) or Kraken’s first home game (another cold game on October 23), please remember three of the arena art Products not yet installed: "The Crow Commute", Seattle comic artist Megan Kelso's urban history etched on stainless steel panels; "The Raven and the Light", a meditation outdoor room designed by Iole Alessandrini; and "Northern Lights", Another lighting work by Haddad and Dugan.
But now there is one more thing you can see-in the southeast corner, one of the "breathing tubes" in the arena (a facility that houses the mechanical system that allows the building to "breathe"). Through the windows on the square level, you can see a mural by Jeffrey Veregge, a Northwestern artist and a member of the Port Gamble/S'Klallam tribe. "Legacy" is a vivid painting that uses his iconic graphic style that he calls himself "Salish geek", combining Coast Salish design elements with modern cartoon characters and retro-futuristic robots.
Veregge's work tells the story of the region in chronological order from the bottom up. The lowest band (at the foot of the stairs leading to the underground parking lot) depicts the indigenous people paddling the Salish canoe on the coast with a unique bow. At the top is a row of long houses. Then there are the wooden and windowed settler houses, and above these houses, there are space robots that look like cars carrying—these numbers match the Jetsons atmosphere of the Space Needle and other space age visions of the World Expo.
But the biggest element in his murals is the trees. Veregge said that trees bear witness to all human stories from aboriginals to futurists. Without epic concerts, without hat tricks, there would be no "tomorrow's world" without them.
In addition, the new use of South Lake Union construction waste, as well as the return of the Seattle Opera House and Lit Crawl.
In addition, a tribute to Philip Levine, the legend of Northwest Public Art in Georgetown, and the body art at Pioneer Square Gallery.
In addition, the new use of South Lake Union construction waste, as well as the return of the Seattle Opera House and Lit Crawl.
In addition, a tribute to Philip Levine, the legend of Northwest Public Art in Georgetown, and the body art at Pioneer Square Gallery.
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In addition, the new use of South Lake Union construction waste, as well as the return of the Seattle Opera House and Lit Crawl.
Brangien Davis is the arts and culture editor of Crosscut. Find her on Twitter @brangien or send an email to brangien.davis@crosscut.com.
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