One of my favorite places in Seattle is the Olympic Sculpture Park. The nine acres in the heart of the Belltown neighborhood, contaminated by the oil and gas company Unocal, was masterfully redeemed in 2007.
There are stunning views of the Puget Sound and the Olympic mountain range in the distance. The park spans over a busy street and a set of railroad tracks to elegantly reconnect the heart of this neighborhood with the waterfront. The Seattle Art Museum (SAM) proposed the project and currently operates the park, which is open and free to the public.
In addition to being a magnificent urban park, the site boasts several world-class sculptures. One of my favorite works is Wake by Richard Serra. The piece consists of five staggered, doubly curved walls formed out of enormous pieces of rusted steel. As mere objects these walls are powerful, but the magic of this work occurs in the spaces created between and around the walls. Serra says:
Serra is sculpting pure space. The object, beautiful and impeccably crafted, is a means to an end. The piece demonstrates to the earnest observer that defining space in relation to the human body can be as profound as the use of color, sound, words or any another artistic device. Having bodies, we are always occupying and moving through various spatial conditions — it is like breathing. We rarely pay attention to the impact these conditions have until the distractions are muted and we are given the opportunity to experience pure space.