When I think of concourses at an airport, magazine stands, food carts and colliding suitcases come to mind. Although, if you happen to be walking through Concourse J in the Miami International Airport, then your inner word nerd will be delighted to see phrases from the book The Everglades: River of Grass by Marjory Stoneman Douglas. The “text from River of Grass is embedded into 65,000 square feet of terrazzo, from beginning to the end of the concourse. Along the terrazzo floor, interspersed with the text, are squares of color photographs taken in the Everglades.”
There are usually two types of travelers, those who are consistently late and running to their plane and those who are serious planners and have arrived hours early with a book in hand. Both travelers will have a different experience with this worded installation, either catching a word or leisurely standing to the side and taking in an entire section. In fact, the writer who described the installation on the Miami International Airport site, Barbara Neijna, noted that “the installation can be appreciated and understood over a long stay of time, delving into the multi-layering of context and content, or it can be taken in at a fleeting pace, catching a word or two of the terrazzo text or a splash of color from the curtain wall glass.”
Big thanks to the friend that shared this fabulous info with me after experiencing the installation in person. His concern was that it would cause mass collisions, as individuals would be focused on the floor and not the people traffic around them, and I couldn’t agree more. Even though the worded concourse may cause a few run ins, I ultimately think that the installation is absolutely fabulous!
Tagged: everglades, installation, miami international airport, river of grass, words
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2 Comments
My flight was delayed 3 hours so I had plenty of time to wander and take it in. As you found, the artist planned it to be taken in a few words at a time or in its entirety. It was just noticing a few words on my initial pass that immediately captured my attention. Since I had plenty of time to kill, I did go back and walk the entire thing after about an hour of boredom. My only thought about that was “I would never take this time if I were actually trying to catch a flight”.
Which, I suppose, took my thoughts in another direction too. The thought of “walking on words.” Good news, a complement – all words that can uplift and make you feel as if you’re walking on air. Perhaps an interesting parallel to taking literal flight (once, finally, cleared for takeoff).
As for collision avoidance, well, let’s just remember that most airline accidents happen on the ground too and almost always due to garbled communication. Words, again, perhaps?
Steve,
Thank you so very much for sharing further details and great insight!