Airport Lounge Cairo, 2008,
Shadow Show, Real Artways, Hartford, Connecticut
Kristina Newman-Scott Director of Visual Arts
Taking another approach, Barbara Westermann’s Airport Lounge Cairo investigates global societal shadows or as my co-curator puts it, “hidden systems” that surround us. Airport Lounge Cairo is a conceptual installation representing an airport lounge where viewers are invited to sit on two cushioned seats. White poles with round speaker heads (almost as if they are PVC sunflowers jutting out of the ground) hint at rectangular shape and play a collage of orchestrated sounds. Sitting in this space might make one think about the universality of the airport lounge experience. The noise and activity surrounding the viewer might seem at once very familiar, and yet foreign. This piece explores the 21st century emigrant, CEO, vacationing dad, steward, terrorist, and agent, amongst others, sitting and waiting on their flights as they prepare to embark on another journey.
Kristina Newman-Scott Director of Visual Arts
Taking another approach, Barbara Westermann’s Airport Lounge Cairo investigates global societal shadows or as my co-curator puts it, “hidden systems” that surround us. Airport Lounge Cairo is a conceptual installation representing an airport lounge where viewers are invited to sit on two cushioned seats. White poles with round speaker heads (almost as if they are PVC sunflowers jutting out of the ground) hint at rectangular shape and play a collage of orchestrated sounds. Sitting in this space might make one think about the universality of the airport lounge experience. The noise and activity surrounding the viewer might seem at once very familiar, and yet foreign. This piece explores the 21st century emigrant, CEO, vacationing dad, steward, terrorist, and agent, amongst others, sitting and waiting on their flights as they prepare to embark on another journey.