The Aurora

Years in the making, this dazzling centerpiece of a terminal transformation gives travelers and visitors to Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP) an ever-changing Minnesota-inspired light show.

The Aurora is a 29-foot-high glass and metal sculpture that is suspended through an oval opening between the ticketing and baggage claim levels in Terminal 1. It’s a twisting aerial wave of more than 20,000 aluminum rings that house over 1,900 hand-blown glass bulbs, each with a set of LEDs within. The Aurora is the creation of Jen Lewin, an internationally renowned new media and interactive sculptor who led a team to hoist the sculpture into place in fall 2020, and then finished the final phases of the installation in March 2021.

Lewin programmed the sculpture’s nearly 6,000 RGB LEDs to use live weather data to alter their color palettes to reflect Minnesota’s seasons and weather conditions, such as blues and whites in colder times, greens and yellows during spring, or oranges and reds in the fall.

Below The Aurora, nestled within the baggage claim floor, Lewin created an interactive cluster of reflective glass platforms that take the forms of public lakes in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, including Lake Phalen, Lake Como, Lake Nokomis and Lake of the Isles. People walking or dancing across the lake platforms trigger swirling light and color changes beneath their feet that match the seasonal colors of The Aurora above.

A 16-member Blue Ribbon Artist Selection Panel, made up of Minnesota civic and arts community leaders, Airport Foundation staff and MAC staff led the artist selection process.

Lewin and her design team conducted public meetings and surveys that yielded more than 10,000 engagements or ideas to help inform her design with the goal of reflecting the region and the local and international MSP Airport community.

“The Aurora is meant to bring the majestic beauty of Minnesota inside the MSP Airport—connecting each traveler to the awe-inspiring landscapes that exist in the state and demonstrating the temporary and lasting effects we have on our living environments. My hope is that through discovering The Aurora, visitors of all ages will feel the joy, beauty and inspiration that I find in all of Minnesota’s seasons.” -Jen Lewin

About the Artist

Jen Lewin is an American new media sculptor based in Brooklyn, New York. Over her 25-year career, Lewin has honed her architectural background and a highly technical medium to fabricate large-scale, interactive, public sculptures that encourage community interaction and play. Uniting nature and technology, Lewin thinks beyond traditional media to create connected human experiences that bring vibrancy to public spaces. Existing at the intersection of art, technology, and community, her sculptures underscore the ripple effects that each individual has on their community and habitat, the energy of human connection, and the power of collective action.