1 … 7 … 0 … 3 … 2 … .
White and blue LED numbers change at scattered intervals in 80 circular mirrors set into the walls of the Frederic C. Hamilton Building’s angled, four-story atrium.
Symbols of time passing, life progressing.
In brief, that describes “ENGI,” the $569,000 installation created by Japanese artist Tatsuo Miyajima specifically for the towering space – his first project of such scale in an American museum.
The vanguard artist represented Japan in the prestigious Venice Biennale in 1999 with an installation titled “MEGADEATH,” and his works are housed in such institutions as the Museum of Modern Art in New York City and Tate Modern in London.
The Denver Art Museum’s installation was commissioned under the city’s 1 percent-for-art ordinance, which requires 1 percent of the budget for all public projects of $1 million or more be set aside for art purchases.
Even though the museum is an independent nonprofit organization, the ordinance applied in this case because the principal funding for the $90.5 million building came from a $62.5 million bond issue that Denver voters approved in 1999.
Following the ordinances’ directives, a selection committee was formed; one of its members, Dianne Vanderlip, the museum’s curator of modern and contemporary art, strongly advocated Miyajima, who eventually was chosen.
Not only does his selection reinforce the museum’s international scope, she said, it demonstrates the institution’s desire to go beyond painting and sculpture, and embrace new, technology-based art.
“When you walk into this, it will be like no other museum in the world,” Vanderlip said. “We were looking for an artist who would bring in an absolutely fresh, original vision. This isn’t going to be your ordinary ‘Oh, here’s Joe Shmoe’ kind of experience.”
Museum leaders originally envisioned an installation on the bridge that crosses West 13th Avenue and links the Hamilton Building with the museum’s original structure. After Miyajima studied Libeskind’s plans, he wanted to create something for the atrium.
“There aren’t a lot of artists who can use architecture, but Miyajima can really do that,” Vanderlip said. “He understood that he didn’t want to compete with it (the building). He didn’t want to overpower it. He wanted to be one with it – a very Buddhist approach.”
Miyajima has made a point of giving his creations a collaborative aspect, and this installation is no exception.
“It’s very important to get people involved, to make art more open to the public,” he said through an interpreter. “Usually an artist makes one piece that is the artwork of himself. But I wanted to make it open, to share with the people.”
He invited 80 area residents, including Mayor John Hickenlooper and workers involved in constructing the addition, to set the speed of the LED (light-emitting diode) counters during an Aug. 9 workshop, allowing the participants to invest at least a tiny part of themselves in the work.
“The number reflects each individual’s life, and the mirror reflects the visitors and also the architecture – the idea of the Libeskind building,” Miyajima said. “And, so, in reflecting each other, the space is going to be a place for dialogue.”
