Richard Lippold’s soaring sculpture “Orpheus and Apollo”, which was removed from the Philharmonic Hall of Lincoln Center (now David Geffen Hall) in 2014, is again exposed in flight: as the centerpiece of the Central Hall at La Guardia Airport.
“There aren’t many places to put a 40-foot-tall sculpture weighing 5 tons,” said architecture critic Paul Goldberger, who came up with the idea in 2019 when the Central Hall – a great, glazed connector between them – Terminal B and the AirTrain were used – were still determined. “It occurred to me that two problems could be solved with one act,” said Goldberger. The hall is due to open next year.
The relocation agreement between Lincoln Center, which failed to include the sculpture in its renovation plans for Geffen Hall, and the New York and New Jersey Port Authority, which oversees the $ 8 billion transformation of the airport, was signed by Goldberger, an advisor to both projects, mediated.
The central hall, which will be accessible before the security entrance, will be developed as a living room by La Guardia around the sculpture, which consists of 190 beams of shiny metal suspended from the ceiling on steel wires. It will be visible from many perspectives both inside and outside through the glass facade.
“Instead of making a great work of art disappear in public space,” said Goldberger, “it is seen by more people and from more angles than ever before.”
The site fits: Lippold is also known for “Ad Astra”, a stainless steel sculpture in front of the National Air and Space Museum in Washington.
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