Sacramento Airport Hub Sculpture Propsal

When we look at a cloud, we don’t really see the cloud. We see our memory of a cloud in the changing outline of the border zone between two different levels of water saturation in the sky. The world is a constantly changing mass of molecules pushed through time and space. To make sense of this, our minds build internal models of the things around us. It creates definitions and containers. These definitions are always wrong, always a little out of date, but they work just fine the vast majority of the time. 

A cloud is a special case in that it moves and changes much faster than most objects. A mountain's lifespan might be millions of years, a building may be a few hundred, and a cloud might be hours or less.

In making this sculpture, I’m attempting to create an object that follows a similar internal logic to that of a cloud. Just as the molecules in the cloud push and pull at each other and balance the forces they encounter, so does this sculpture. It takes information from its environment and rearranges itself constantly to find transitory balance. Reacting to the air currents in the room.

The sculpture would be in constant motion, derived from either a mechanical cam system or balanced sails. 

Second Proposal

All Planes Flying

There are around 200,000 flights a day, which means that there are around 7,000 planes in the sky right now. Imagine seeing them all in one space. 

The scale of human endeavor…

Third Proposal

Flying like Gods

We live in a world of magic and privilege, with resources and plenty, from blankets to medicine to plane flights. We routinely fly through the air like Greek gods, sitting in chairs in the sky. Somehow, this incredible feat has become ordinary, safe, and average. We relax at thirty thousand feet while sipping a coffee and watching  Seinfeld reruns. We lose sight of moving at six hundred miles per hour, crossing continents in hours that took our ancestors generations to transverse. 

Imagine the Greek Gods taking an average flight across the country. Being gods, they would not need a plane, but they might need to conform to some airspace regulations. Zeus has to wait to use the bathroom. Poseidon is pissed TSA took his trident, and Athena can’t get off TikTok. 

In this sculpture, the figures will be classical reproductions of Greek gods crudely reconfigured into seated positions. They will float suspended from a rig with a counterbalance, endlessly traveling through the room. Each figure will be articulated to simulate basic movements like sipping coffee or reading a book. The movements will be animated by balanced mechanisms connected to sails reacting to natural air currents found in the room along their journey.