Walkways Through the Wall

Walkways Through the Wall
File:Walkways1.jpg File:Walksways2.jpg File:Walkwaysthroughthewall3.jpg
Artist	Vito Acconci
Year	1998 (1998)
Dimensions	440 cm × 2,070 cm × 6,220 cm (174 in × 816 in × 2448 in)
Location	Milwaukee
Coordinates	43°2′23″N 87°8′55″W

Walkways Through the Wall, is a public artwork by American artist Vito Acconci, located at the Frontier Airlines Center, which is near Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States.

Description

Walkways Through the Wall is a sculpture, made for the Midwest (now Frontier) Airlines Center, that intertwines public and private space. Created in 1998 by Vito Acconci, and a collaborating team of architects, (David Leven, Celia Imrey, Luis Vera, Jenny Schrider, and Saija Singer) Walkways Through the Wall is intended to enhance the idea of the Airlines Center as being seen as one continuous plaza. The dimensions are 14.5' X 68' X 204', and the sculpture stretches from outside the building, through its interior, and out the other side. The materials used are: Colored Concrete, Standard Gray Concrete, Steel, and Light-box floor. The sculpture passes through the walls of the building as if they aren't there, making a continuous path from exterior to exterior.

Historical information

Walkways Through the Wall is an example of Acconci's focus on architecture and landscape design. This public artwork integrates public and private areas. "From the outside, Acconci extends the natural concrete as pathways through the wall and into the building, bisecting the terra-cotta concourse. Each path then heads in a different direction and ends with a unique purpose. In two cases, the path forms a bench at the street level. In another it cascades downward before ending as a sitting area on the level below. In still another, it leads to a stairway connecting the two levels. Light boxes mark the turns in the walkways where the concrete material ceases to exist, illuminating both the interior and exterior concourses."

"Acconci and his colleagues designed their "interactive art installation" with the hope that visitors to the Midwest Airlines Center will see materials defying physical properties and reflect on their own potential. 'I hope they would laugh and think that something is doing what it wasn't supposed to do,' explains Acconci, 'So if the material does what it is not supposed to do, maybe I, a person, can do what I am not supposed to do."

Location history

This sculpture has a permanent place at the Frontier Airlines Center.

Artist

Main article: Vito Acconci

"Acconci earned a degree in English Literature from the College of Holy Cross in 1962 and attended the Writer's Workshop at the University of Iowa. His visual artistry took root in his early writings of fictions and poetry. Using words as place-holders, Acconci treated the literary page as physical space through which the writer and reader traveled together. Acconci's first work in and "art" context came in the late 1960's and early 1970's, when, using his body as his medium he created the art-occasion as the presentation of self. Much like his earlier vision of the physical page as a meeting space, Acconci viewed the exhibition hall as the location for an encounter between the artist and the viewers. He used performance art, film, and video as vehicles to carry out self-analysis and explore interpersonal relationships.... I the late 1980's, Acconci founded Acconci Studio, a group of architects that designs art projects for public places - streets and plazas, gardens and walks, building lobbies, and transportation centers. 'Our projects have a dialogue, maybe and argument, with the site,' explains Acconci. 'Our attempt is to put a space into the hands of the people; to liberate the site, and the people who use the site.'"