The Phoenix Traveler

And why is that crown of thorns being lifted onto the roof of the new convention center in downtown Phoenix?

Crazy-sounding questions, I know, to be asking about objects located in a downtown metropolis. But they’re legitimate. That’s what I really was thinking last week when I was walking on Monroe Street to go take a look inside the city’s new Visitors Center. I’m writing a story about that for US Airways magazine and figured I might as well take a detour while I’m there.

It had been a while since I’d seen what I’d dubbed “the alien in Phoenix” when I first saw him. And I wanted to see him again. He’s part of the Percent for Art project the city has commissioned with various artists nationwide. This one is part of a video creation designed by Tony Oursler called “Million Colors”. Installed when the first phase of the city’s new Convention Center  opened in 2006, this part of the project includes a white, egg-shaped face that, when lit up, looks like a green alien. I can’t imagine who wouldn’t want to see that.

It’s strange. It’s different. And when you sit on the couch below, he speaks. You’ll find him in the West building, just as you walk inside the Monroe Street entrance. You have to look up at the wall, though, and to your right. When I did that this time, however, something was missing. I’ve been told, he’s undergoing some maintenance. So he’s not talking, and he’s not even green. If you go now, all you’ll see is the white egg shape on the wall. And that, my friends, just looks odd. So wait until the maintenance is complete. Or call ahead.

But if you’re going to go downtown, anyway, you might as well take a look at the latest public art project going up on Monroe Street: a giant crown-like object. It’s outside Convention Center North, over the entranceway to the ballrooms. Appropriately named “Halo”, artist Kim Cridler, with her husband William Bennie, designed the 32-foot-wide, wreath-like sculpture. Made to look like a bronze ring of interwoven agave leaves, its grid-like frame is supposed to symbolize good luck, transformation through regeneration (like the Phoenix itself), and continuity, life, and cyclic time.

These two art projects are just a sample of the total $3.2 million public art package commissioned by the city for convention center development. And if you get a chance to see these two, I hope you’re lucky enough to hear the green face speak. If you are, come back and tell me what he says. I’ve forgotten. It’s been two years since I saw him last.

Tip: There’s a lot of construction going on downtown, making it easy to get lost. Click here for a map.

(Photos used with permission by the Phoenix Convention Center.)

Comments Off