Transformed PIT Shares a New Perspective on Partnerships

Artist Carolina Loyola-Garcia spent days observing people’s interactions as they navigated Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT). Her goal was to understand the community and connect with it through her art.

“Community is important to me,” said Loyola-Garcia, a professor of Media Arts at Robert Morris University. “What does community mean at an airport? Who is at the airport?”

Loyola-Garcia, a multidisciplinary artist, filmmaker and performer from Santiago, Chile, is just one of 15 predominantly local artists who are partnering with PIT as part of the airport’s modernization. On top of that, there are local craftspeople and art fabricators who partner with artists to help bring their visions to life.

PIT as a partner in the arts

PIT’s Art in the Airport program transforms the airport experience by augmenting it with elements that reflect the community – and offer a different perspective on it as well.

PIT’s modernization project provided the Experience & Design team, one of two dedicated service design teams at an airport, with the ideal opportunity to rethink the art programming.

“The modernization project gave us a moment to think about how we engage with Pittsburgh and with passengers,” said Keny Marshall, Arts & Culture Manager. “We thought about how we presented the airport so that it forms a connection and creates an experience.”

At the launch of PIT’s modernization, the Art in the Airport team focused on curating partnerships with predominantly local artists. The strategy was designed to imbue PIT’s new terminal and modernized facilities with an identity that reflected the community, offering a sense of familiarity, connection and perspective to passengers, partners and team members.

“We thought about how we created spaces and places that could reinforce where you are, even while in a building you’ve never been in,” said Marshall. “I like that approach because people take visual cues, and art resonates with us because of that.”

The Art in the Airport program provides a unique opportunity for both local and national artists to exhibit for the first time in a public space outside of a traditional gallery. Some of those, such as Loyola-Garcia, are making a return. Her exhibition “Hands” was at the airport from June through September 2023. Her work has been featured at galleries and festivals around the world and she was honored by the World Affairs Council for fostering global connections to the Pittsburgh region.

How it all came together

“I spent time at the airport. I started seeing people. I started designing characters. And so, from that list of characters that I designed, I then set up a week of [photographing] in my studio with actors and dancers,” said Loyola-Garcia on the process behind her latest work, called “Fractal Dance in Transit Gardens”.

The Pittsburgh-based artist, who earned her Master of Fine Arts degree from Carnegie Mellon University, took the images of actors and movement artists – one was a mime – to recreate the people who interact at the airport, including passengers and airport team members.

Loyola-Garcia placed the images into silhouette and experimented with size, tone and texture, guided by the NaTeCo – Nature, Technology, Community – concept that inspired the design of PIT’s new terminal.

“The result was these fractals, digital fractals, that create these sorts of infinite mandalas,” said Loyola-Garcia. “It was a lot of experimenting, observing and then trying things out.”

PIT’s Art in the Airport Program committee remained an active partner with Loyola-Garcia throughout the process, providing insights and coordinating with operations, architectural, construction, engineering and installation teams.

“The process has been really, really smooth; it’s been respectful to the utmost level. [The team] has taken such good care of us. In the creative phase, they get really involved with developing concepts and giving feedback,” Loyola-Garcia said.

Artwork itself fosters engagement; it creates a visual and experiential partnership with an audience – airport passengers, team members alike. Through PIT’s modernization efforts, the program aims to present a distinct perspective of both the Pittsburgh and PIT communities, enriching the overall experience.

That engagement stems from the partnership between the airport and the artist, which inspires a shared perspective with the PIT audience.

“Fractal Dance in Transit Gardens” by Carolina Loyola-Garcia is featured throughout PIT’s Concourse B, with installation of the entire work to be completed by October.