Œuvre d'art public

As one

Jaume Plensa, As one, 2003
Jaume Plensa, As one, 2003. © Laura Plensa
Jaume Plensa, As one, 2003
Jaume Plensa, As one, 2003. © Laura Plensa
Location:
Aéroport Lester B. Pearson, Toronto, ON, Canada
Artwork creator(s): 
Plensa, Jaume
Text author(s): 
Plensa, Jaume
Installation year: 
2003
Remarks on location: 

Dans l'aire de réclamation des bagages

Description: 

Des lettres de néon attendent le passager qui récupère ses bagages. À partir des chaos des lettres, les mots America, Europa, Asia, Oceania, Africa apparaissent tour à tour, mettant en lumière les concordances entre les lettres des mots. En formant un nouveau mot, ils ouvrent des portes sur un continent encore inexistant.

Text of the artwork: 

America, Europa, Asia, Oceania, Africa

Dimensions:

Height: 
4m
Width: 
100m
Note(s): 

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.

Natasha Hébert (2005). "Jaume Plensa: Le Sphinx catalan". Espace, no. 71, p.36-39

Document(s): 

Jaume Plensa: Le Sphinx catalan

Hébert, Natasha (2005).  Jaume Plensa: Le Sphinx catalan. Espace. no. 71 (Printemps-Spring) , p. 36-39