Airport's art transforms travel experience

IF YOU'VE flown through Denver lately, you may have noticed the luggage hanging from the ceiling.

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Painted in pastel hues mimicking the colours of the Rockies at sunrise, nearly 200 suitcases, duffel bags, backpacks, briefcases and other personal items hover above Concourse B at Denver International Airport. Arranged in a loop that resembles an infinity sign, the three-ton, 26-foot-long art installation by Thomas “Detour” Evans is meant to symbolise the stories that each traveller carries.

“Bags are so universal and hold so much history, so it felt like a no-brainer that I use them as the medium,” Detour said.

This addition, titled “It’s Not What You Take, It’s What You Bring Back,” is the latest in the airport's vast and ambitious public art programme. The collection has long been a source of fascination - and, at times, conspiracy theories.

The airport's reputation for artistic excellence stems partly from how the city pays for it: Denver's “One Percent for Art” programme mandates that any capital improvement project over $1 million (R18.50m) must set aside 1 percent of the budget for public art. Given that the airport cost $4.8 billion (R88.8 billion) to build and recently underwent a $2.5bn (R46.25bn) gate expansion programme, that leaves millions of dollars for sculptures, murals and other installations.

Sam Weston, the public art and exhibitions manager at the airport, said the current value of the completed collection is about R222m, and another R203m worth of work has been approved.