3 minute read
INTRODUCTION
ART PLAN OVERVIEW
New Arena Public Art Plan Overview
Advertisement
The purpose of the New Arena at Seattle Center Public Art Plan is to present a vision and framework that guides the investment of funds for public art as part of the Arena redevelopment project and its ongoing operations. A section describing the art vision is followed by details about specific art opportunities identified to achieve the vision. An end section summarizes the background information about the site and its context that inspired the Public Art Plan and which should continue to inform the development of resulting individual artworks.
The art planners conducted research, reviewed documents, visited the site, attended Arena events, and met with the project team, stakeholders and the public to better understand the site’s conditions, community, and stories. Through this immersion, they developed guiding principles for art’s role at the Arena and have outlined a vision and framework of projects that can honor and cultivate core values of both Seattle Center and the Arena redevelopment project.
ROLE OF ART AT NEW ARENA
Project Background
The New Arena at Seattle Center redevelopment project couples change with preservation, bringing new things to appear amidst the old. The project will preserve the roof, columns, and glazing of the landmark structure, designed by Paul Thiry as part of the 1962 World’s Fair, but will increase the capacity. The building interior will be completely reconstructed, going 19’ deeper, and wider, underground; and a glass atrium will be added to the south side.
Seattle Arena Company (ArenaCo) has committed to working closely with the City of Seattle Center, and the community to design and operate a project that enhances connections to adjoining neighborhoods, contributes vibrancy to Seattle Center and aligns with the Seattle Center Century 21 Master Plan. The Arena’s re-opening in the year 2021 creates a strong potential for a synergy with the “Century 21” history of the Arena.
Commitment to Art at the Arena
As part of its commitment to the City, ArenaCo is investing $3.5 million into the cultural ecology of Seattle Center and the Uptown Arts and Cultural District. One half of these funds will be used to create works of site-specific, permanent public art for the Arena and its surrounding plazas. The art program is being developed in coordination with the project’s construction requirements, signage, architecture, signage, technology, and lighting programs.
Art opportunities have been conceived to integrate with the design framework of the Arena’s spaces, surfaces, wayfinding and programming to form strong conceptual ties to the functionality and character of the facility. Art in the Public Realm
Art is the expression and experience of human perception, ideas, and inquiry. It stimulates thinking, reveals meaning, and can uniquely resonate with our personal associations as well as our collective consciousness of the world. Site-specific art responds to conditions of the place where it is located. Art that taps into cultural, social, physical, and natural systems, stories and qualities of its environment can spark curiosity about a place. Art in the public realm has the potential to capture the imagination and engage with civic memories in a collective manner, not unlike the experiences we have at arena events. Collective art experiences can be pivotal in the formation of bonds between people, community, and place.
Role of Art at the New Arena
As the cultural heart of Seattle and home of the majority of the city’s performance venues, Seattle Center is a place where public art should play both a civic role, representing the city’s values and the increasing diversity of its evolving population, as well as a theatrical role, offering unexpected and magical experiences.
