FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 28, 2006

City Council approves Sprint Center public artwork

The City of Kansas City, Mo., City Council approved funding for the City's biggest public art installation to date during its July 27 legislative session.

Councilmembers unanimously approved a $1.3 million contract with New York multimedia artist Chris Doyle to create an art installation for the Sprint Center. The proposed artwork, entitled 'The Moons," includes landscaping, water features and moon-shaped LED video screens on which the artist proposes to feature Kansas Citians "flying." The artwork is the highest-priced piece proposed for construction in Kansas City since installation of R.M. Fischer's "Sky Stations" statues atop Bartle Hall in 1994.

An all-volunteer selection panel of Municipal Art Commission representatives, local citizens, representatives of the Sprint Center's design team and artists and art professionals familiar with public art, chose Doyle from a field of 154 artists from across the country.

"This piece speaks volumes about the vital, energetic nature of our newly revitalized downtown," said Porter Arneill, director of the Municipal Art Commission. "This piece will add life to Kansas City's already thriving public art collection."

Councilmembers also voted to consider Omaha-based artist Jun Kaneko's "Water Plaza," chosen by a selection panel for installation at the Bartle Hall Convention Center, at the Aug. 3 legislative session following a presentation at the City Council's business session.

Both artists were selected through the City's One Percent for Art Program. Under a 1986 ordinance, any new building project undertaken by the City must allot 1 percent of total design and estimated construction costs to commission a work of art related to the project. The Municipal Art Commission administers the One Percent for Art Program for the City.