Hamad International Airport’s Chief Operating Officer, Engr Badr Mohammed Al Meer; Abdulaziz Al Mass (far left), Vice-President - Commercial and Marketing and Ian Metsovitis (right), HIA Vice-President of Operations.
DOHA: Hamad International Airport (HIA) has come together with Qatar Museums (QM) to launch yet another unique art piece at HIA premises showcasing the airport as a destination for art lovers.
Ahead of the official launch of a new art piece at the airport called ‘Small Lie’, HIA’s Chief Operating Officer, Engr Badr Mohammed Al Meer; Abdulaziz Al Mass, Vice-President – Commercial and Marketing and Ian Metsovitis, HIA Vice-President of Operations gave The Peninsula a sneak peak of the new art installation.
Talking about the nature of the collaboration between HIA and QM on this project, Engr Badr Mohammed Al Meer said, “HIA is a strong supporter of the arts and has been teaming up with Qatar Museums since the very first art acquisition meant to be displayed at the airport: Urs Fisher Lamp Bear, now the icon of HIA. Our partnership tremendously flourished since then, allowing us to host more than twenty art pieces from both global and local renown artists”.
Abdulaziz Al Mass said, “We support Qatar Museums’ main mission in developing and promoting art and heritage with the ambition to help fulfill the cultural goals of the 2030 Qatar National Vision. Art goes well beyond the walls of a traditional museum or a gallery. Qatar Museums is curating all art pieces displayed at the airport, hence supporting HIA in designing an innovative space for public art.”
Shedding light about the creator of the art piece and its previous location, Abdulaziz Al Mass said that ‘Small Lie’ was created by Brooklyn pop artist Brian Donnelly, a.ka KAWS and was previously exhibited at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, in UK.
The sculpture is approximately 15T, 12m high and is made of afrormosia wood. The art piece consists of 10 different pieces including two legs, two feet, two arms, two hands, one body and one head with a nose. A steel structural frame inside the sculpture connects various parts together.
Giving details about the logistics and installation of the art piece, Ian Metsovitis, HIA Vice-President of Operations said that the sculpture was transported by ship and dismantled into 10 different crates of different sizes. It was then transported through the airport tunnels using special trucks. The parts were then connected together through steel pipes and assembled, allowing the sculpture to be free standing.
HIA is known for its unique collection of art pieces located at different locations across the airport. Talking about how does HIA decide on the location of an art piece at the airport Engr Badr Mohammed Al Meer said HIA is a strong supporter of the arts, particularly public arts. The airport has a permanent collection of one-of-a-kind art installations curated in collaboration with Qatar Museums Authority, he said.
In addition to the existing collection of art pieces, HIA’s launch of the new art piece positions itself as the gateway to the arts and culture and takes the passenger experience to a whole new level.
He added that after careful study of indoor locations in the context of aesthetic and building engineering, the decision was made to keep the sculpture indoors to preserve it from high humidity and heat during summers. The art piece is located at the North node of the airport in Concourse E, as agreed by HIA authorities and Qatar Museums.
“The challenge of installing a 15T and 12m height sculpture on the 1st floor of an Airport terminal requires meticulous planning and engineering. A huge portion of the building façade was removed to allow the two larger crates (body and head) to enter the area,” said Ian Metsovitis. “Specially customised tow trucks and trolleys were constructed to allow the transportation of the sculpture considering the loads and the ceiling constraints of the terminal. Due to the space restriction, a customised gantry was built to allow three-dimensional movements during the sculpture mounting,” he said.
Ian Metsovitis said that a team of 80 to 100 people were involved in the installation of ‘Small Lie’. This included people from different departments and specialisations including fine art installers, gantry and steel specialists, façade experts, a logistics company, structural engineers, commercial and contractual experts, consultants, airport and museum staff.
Talking about ensuring the safety of passengers while installing this piece, Ian Metsovitis said, “There are always construction risks when performing similar installations. Our job was to plan the logistics behind the installation of a massive art piece, identify the risks involved and mitigate them. A special staging area that is different from the installation area was created in order to minimise the impact of passenger comfort and safety”.
“The installation area was demarcated, hoarded and guarded on a 24 hour basis. The team took extreme safety measures and diligence to ensure the safety of workforce while diminishing material damage,” he added.
Shedding light on some of the biggest challenges faced in installing the piece and the measures taken to overcome it, Ian Metsovitis said one of biggest challenges was to find an air-conditioned space large enough to host the parts temporarily. Another challenge was to transport, assemble and place the massive art piece inside the airport due to the constraint in space and height. This is the first time a massive piece like Small Lie is installed on the first floor of a building in an operational airport, he said.
Such a unique piece of art needs to be handled with extreme care. Meticulous planning, proper structural engineering and high safety measures were taken to ensure passenger safety and comfort during the process of installing the artwork, he added.
