Aerial

Charlotte Douglas – International Airport

Year:
2010

Anchoring and animating the major entry portal to the Charlotte-Douglas International Airport, Aerial will be a dramatic, gestural work that responds to the phenomena of flight, fluid dynamics, time and place.

Precisely balanced at an angle upon a vertical base, a long taper will ascend to pierce the sky. The form will glide upon its axis, animated by the wind. Drawing a wide arc around itself as it rotates, it will also appear to float, rising and falling on the fluctuating air currents.

Pointing outward 360 degrees as it turns, Aerial will be an omnidirectional work, encompassing all directions like a map’s compass rose, suggesting the infinite potentiality of travel and flight.

A gilt crown at the taper’s apex will recall the city’s namesake, glittering in the changing sunlight. Counterbalancing the elongated form at its nadir, a circular vane with an aperture will highlight the surrounding landscape.

Aerial will act as a sensor for the moving air, drawing the viewer’s gaze upward to the spectacular open sky above, which Charlotte’s air traffic traverses, echoing the flow of vehicles on the earth below. The work’s perpetual motion will mirror these parallel planes of movement, referencing the surrounding transit streams and rendering evident the invisible choreography of the unseen wind.

Welcoming visitors at the intersection of Wilkinson Boulevard and Little Rock Road, the dynamic form will be a monumental boundary marker. A low crescent of bermed earth will rise behind the work, concealing the adjacent parking area and creating a ‘pure’ ground for viewers entering the airport.

Aerial will act as a focal point – a moving spire. Situated at the threshold between land and air, Charlotte’s gateway to the world, Aerial will be a mysterious instrument, a contemplative play on fluid dynamics that embraces the site on a spectacular scale and beckons the viewer toward the sky.