The more cautious traveler will always have time to kill at an airport. Maybe they’ll peruse a few shops, look for a cafe or just vacantly stare at the flight information board. There’s usually not much else to do. Imagine their astonishment if they were to stumble across a huge contemporary artwork, one so unusual, it begs to be approached.
Yuri Suzuki and Miyu Hosoi’s new “Crowd Cloud” sound sculpture at Haneda Airport offers that element of surprise. A conceptual but playful work, the copse of tall golden and black trumpet horns dominates a corner of the domestic departure floor, inviting visitors to wander around it, lean in and listen to a chorus of soft, relaxing sounds. Step farther away and the notes dissipate into the white noise of its location.
At 10 meters wide and 5 meters tall, Suzuki and Hosoi’s installation is the centerpiece of “Vision Gate,” a series of artworks curated by New York’s Museum of Modern Art curator Paola Antonelli for Haneda and Narita airports. It’s just one of dozens of works now on display in terminal buildings across Japan as part of “Culture Gate,” a major media arts exhibition split between seven airports and one international cruise port.