Fernanda D’Agostino
Celestial Navigations
Glass and metal with day and night elements utilizing video projection
18-foot-tall (5.5 m)
2009
International Boulevard plaza of SeaTac/Airport light rail station
Seattle, WA, 2009
A sculpture of a navigational quadrant, the piece sits on a pedestal of rustic terrazzo and features a looping, hour-long video projected to the quadrant. This work was groundbreaking in its integration of permanent video projection systems into gritty outdoor urban spaces. Being site specific in this difficult space involved a range of challenges.. Engineering an audiovisual system and software to run it robust enough to withstand weather, time and potential vandalism was the crucial “site specific” challenge that made the project possible. Custom engineered software monitors both the operation of the system and the climate in the projector housing. Celestial Navigations employs a day and night strategy on a major urban plaza linking SeaTac Airport’s light rail station to the surrounding city. For this project I collaborated with project architects to design a plaza layout based on navigational maps used by both airline pilots and sailors. A major focal point that is has both day and night elements.
