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Abstract

Located in Terminal B/C of Philadelphia International Airport, the Acconci Studio's 1998 Flying Floors for Ticketing Pavilion is a provocative, disquieting testament to the one-of-a-kind pulse of an airport. Mirroring all the exhilaration, disorientation, thrills, and fears associated with this unique contemporary public space, Flying Floors is proof that artworks commissioned for airport collections do not have to be watered down or cliché but instead can be site-responsive, evocative, and roguish. They can explore facets of the contemporary condition better understood at the airport than anywhere else; legitimize the often surreal goings on within this singular contemporary public venue; and enmesh themselves within the physical and philosophical schema of this extraordinary site. By doing all of that and then some, F/y/ng F/oors is both a perfect marriage of sculpture and site and a suggestive model for the kind of installations we should be unafraid to commission for airport collections.

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Airport Art Revisited Site Responsive Lessons from the Acconci Studio's Flying Floors for Ticketing Pavilion

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