Hovering of the hall of routine check-ins, waiting, and baggage scanning, this artwork is intended to suggest the excitement, adventure, and wonder inherent in even the most mundane journeys. When we travel by air, we become aware of ourselves as inhabitants of a planet in the universe; we see things, we know things that humans never saw or knew before.

Planetary Conditions is a work of installation art, designed to arc through, and interact with, the space of the ticketing hall. These are five components, all based on maps and charts of information about the atmosphere and air space through which we fly. These components make up a family of sculptural forms, of differing sizes, proportions, and configurations. The relationship among these are intended to activate the entire area by creating an ongoing dialog of changing color, form, scale, and mapped information. Additionally, as appropriate to the subject matter, their placement punctuates the space and provides landmarks or reference points, a means of locating yourself within the ticketing hall.

Leila Daw is an artist whose best known for her public commissions, which include permanent installations at Hartford’s new Bradley International Airport terminal, Northwestern Connecticut State College’s new library, the St. Louis light rail system, the Massachusetts Turnpike, and others. Her work provokes contemplative thought on our use of the earth and draws upon possible calamitous events, which cause total devastation. Her work deals with issues surrounding geology, geography, landscape, sense of place, and human orientation within natural and cultural environments.