JAUME PLENSA
RECENT PUBLIC INSTALLATIONS

JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA - The city of Jacksonville has undergone a major revitalization of its downtown, including the building of a new sports arena, courthouse and library. Plensa won the commission for the arena plaza with a design that captivated the judges with its "ethereal quality and spirit". They wanted a work that would challenge and promote conversation. The result ("Talking Continents") is comprised of six translucent kneeling figures set upon stainless steel poles towering thirty-five feet in the air. From within the chest of each figure diodes emit a colored light inspired by the colors of the stained glass from an historic nearby church, one of the few original buildings maintained in the area. The figures in Plensa's work are silhouetted against the sky like planets or stars, existing in balance between heaven and earth. Situated in a venue not usually associated with art, the modulated visual 'heartbeats' of the figures function as a metaphor for society's diversity calling upon the arena spectators to congregate and meditate on the very presence of mankind.

TORONTO, CANADA - For the arrivals hall in the new Toronto international airport terminal, Plensa has captured all of the emotions, anticipation and anxiety people feel upon landing in a new country. He has strung together the words "Asia," "Africa," "Oceania," "Europe" and the "Americas" into one neon superword, 100 meters in length. "I feel today that all the continents are moving to become one again, as they once were," Plensa says drawing parallels to technology's globalization of the world and the Pangaea of 200 million years ago. "So I have transformed all the 31 letters of the continents into one long word. The thing is, we don't know how to read it yet. We don't have the experience." The words will be illuminated selectively, creating both recognizable and undecipherable text. In as much as the work incorporates the familiar, there is also the unexpected, again mirroring the experience of a traveler arriving in a foreign land. "I have always thought about [Canada] as a welcoming place for people who are looking for a better life. I imagine Canada as a door. This is the real entrance to your country. This is where everything begins." The Toronto airport terminal was opened in December, 2003.