Metal, light, and color combine to form interactive sculpture at Minnesota airport

Jen Lewin’s 29-ft.-tall, 720-lb. sculpture “The Aurora” includes approximately 23,000 hand-cut welded aluminum rings, 2,600 hand-blown glass bulbs, and more than 9,000 LEDs. Images: “The Aurora” by Jen Lewin, photos by Kari Jo Skogquist courtesy of Jen Lewin Studio

Like the actual northern lights, it is hard to look away from “The Aurora.”

The 29-ft.-tall, 720-lb. sculpture—named after the aurora borealis natural light display—welcomes passengers traveling through Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport’s Terminal 1.

The sculpture made of metal and glass celebrates a number of things. First, it celebrates metal, glass, light, and color coming together to become a work of art. Also, it celebrates sculptor Jen Lewin and her approach to incorporating community interaction and play with large public pieces. Finally, it celebrates Minnesota, the state which it calls home.

“Airport staff, they really love it. There's so much pride and joy around it,” Lewin said. “Every time I’ve been there, there's always kids playing underneath it. I think a lot of people don’t realize it’s interactive. But they still think it’s really beautiful.”

Interacting With Sculptures

In a career spanning more than two decades, Lewin has completed several temporary and permanent installations that have been seen around the world. She attempts to make most of these pieces interactive and approachable to the public.

“My real core desire is to create these large interactive structures. At the heart of that is this desire to create a play experience that’s not solitary, that it’s not like you just push a button. It's something that you’re a part of and immersed in and you’re playing in ... it’s a powerful art experience that’s also community based,” said Lewin, who lives in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Honeycomb-like structures can be seen in many of Lewin’s pieces; the honeycomb pattern is something she gravitated towards around 15 years ago. In “The Aurora,” the honeycomb is front and center with a frame comprising approximately 23,000 hand-cut aluminum rings welded together.

Lewin worked with Boulder, Colo.-based Coalesce Design & Fabrication on the fabrication of the sculpture. The two have collaborated on previous projects. Coalesce Owner BJ Titchenal said fabrication included the stacking and welding of the thousands of 1-in. aluminum rings.

“It was a complicated and tedious task,” he said. “I think the complexity and issues of placing all those rings was certainly a function of the complex three-dimensional shape [of the sculpture].”

“The welding was done by BJ. I’ve worked with him for so long and he is so good at doing this particular honeycomb process that I’ve been doing for so long,” added Lewin.

The interactive sculpture hangs between the first and second floors of Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport’s Terminal 1.

Stainless steel tubing that was formed using 3D CNC benders frames the honeycomb structure. Attached to the structure are more than 2,600 hand-blown glass bulbs and more than 9,000 LEDs. The structure’s colored light display uses live weather data to change the sculpture’s color scheme.

On the airport floor and just below the sculpture, eight small “lakes” made of metal and glass respond to footsteps and touch, generating light and color changes that complement the colors above. Lewin said these lakes represent bodies of water in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area.

“Lakes are very important in Minnesota,” Lewin said.

Her desire was for the installation to be “truly connected with Minnesota. It wasn’t just a random sculpture for an airport; it was something that was evocative of Minnesota the place.”

An oval opening allows “The Aurora” to dangle through the airport terminal’s first and second floors. The sculpture hangs from the Terminal 1 ceiling, with a separate arm underneath that supports the bottom.

“The Aurora” is shaped like a skateboard ramp and resembles the lightwaves seen in aurora borealis. Lewin said it also reminds her of a spring, and its springy design proved to be a challenge.

“When we picked it up, it had gone through all this engineering analysis and all the aluminum had been welded together. The honeycomb structure is pretty strong. But when we picked it up, the whole thing was like a giant spring,” she said. “It was supposed to be 30 ft. tall, but it actually hung down to almost 40 ft. So, we actually had to do a bunch of last-minute changes to help it keep its shape and for it to not spring and relax.”

Rave Reviews

The Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport’s operators, the Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC), commissioned Lewin to design and create the project back in 2018. Lewin and her team hoisted the sculpture in place in the fall of 2020, with the final phase of the installation completed in March 2021.

“‘The Aurora’ is a signature artwork for the airport and our region,” MAC Chairman Rick King said in a 2021 news release announcing its unveiling. “It offers visitors an energetic, lasting impression of our state and is sure to become a beloved symbol for those returning home to [Minneapolis-St. Paul].”

Titchenal said the sculpture turned out incredible, showcasing the talent Lewin has for mixing visual and auditory ideas with metal.

“It all melds together pretty well. It’s always fun to work with her projects because she’s always coming up with some interesting and unique things that challenge us from a fabrication standpoint,” Titchenal said.

It is Lewin’s second art installation in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. The 40-ft.-long stainless steel “Sidewalk Harp" in Minneapolis is an interactive piece that pedestrians alter as they generate musical notes and LED colors when they walk underneath the structure and its overhead sensors.

This year, Lewin’s work includes large public pieces currently in progress that will be located in Arlington, Texas, and outside the main downtown library in Cincinnati.