Return Journey

2007

Brackett Park, Minneapolis, MN

42’x30’x37’

Historic rocket play structure, steel, landscaping

Commissioned by Forecast Public Art, Longfellow Community Council, City of Minneapolis

Description:

Return Journey utilizes a 1962 playground structure removed from an urban Minneapolis park in 2004 that was saved from demolition by a group of community activists.  The group successfully petitioned the Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board to return the structure to park on the condition that it was made into a non-accessible work of art.  Working closely with the community to create a design that respects the memories of those who climbed it and inspires those who never will, I re-imagined the rocket by elevating it into the sky and anchoring it to the earth with 84 steel cables. The cables give it an apparent motion through space while simultaneously tethering it to its original site.