Concept

“Look up in the sky, it’s a bird, it’s a plane…” this iconic line takes on new meaning with Gordon’s twin installations Swallows in Flight and Crossroads to the World. Inspired by two airborne constants (birds and planes) in the skies near Utah’s Great Salt Lake, these shimmering, spiraling suspended sculptures cap off the east and west terminus of the Airport’s Concourse B expansion. Dubbed “the Hammerheads” by SLC staff and HOK, the Airport’s architecture firm, these areas represent the final phase of the Salt Lake City Department of Airports’ massive $4.1 billion Airport Redevelopment Program.

For Swallows in Flight, Gordon drew inspiration from the shape and dynamism of the common barn swallow, a ubiquitous sight in summer months when flying insects are plentiful above the Great Salt Lake. With their swept-back wings and forked tails, these birds are the pinnacle of aeronautical efficiency and are the inspiration behind countless developments in modern aviation.

Crossroads to the World, the companion piece to Swallows in Flight, is situated at the west end of Concourse B and trades swallows for planes. The title is a play on Utah’s nickname of the “Crossroads of the West” albeit with a more modern flare considering the global reach of modern air travel. Arranged in a similar radiating pattern, the total array appears as a complex air traffic pattern, representing the omnidirectional arrivals and departures that pass through the gates at SLC.

Each installation is comprised of thousands of individual birds (2,051 swallows) and planes fabricated in acrylic and coated with dichroic film. With its light-sensitive, reflective and color-changing properties, dichroic film is a dynamic and ever-changing material that lends a burst of color and visual complexity to travelers’ preflight wait time. Each individual bird and plane is strung along stainless-steel cable “necklaces” and hung from stainless-steel mesh supported by a 24-foot diameter stainless-steel ring.

With their visual complexity and stunning color-shifting properties, both Swallows in Flight and Crossroads to the World make for a visually complex and engaging sight for some of the 30 million passengers that arrive and depart through SLC each year.