Concourse B
You can find these wonderful fountains near Gate B-1.
Concourse C
The fountains are found near Gate C-3 and Beecher's Handmade Cheese.
Concourse D
Green's pieces are located near Gate D-5 between The Great American Bagel Bakery and Seattleʼs Best.
During the 1992 expansion of the airport, artist Jim Green was commissioned to create the Talking Drinking Fountains. Equipped with microchip recordings of different water-derived sounds, the series of six water fountains have become a conversation piece at the Sea-Tac International Airport. As normal and nondescript as any fountain you’d find in a shopping mall, Green’s fountains surprise unsuspecting users by playing sounds of a babbling brook, a swimmer splashing through a pool, or water glugging out of a water cooler in an office building.
Artist
Jim Green
Date
1994
Medium
Sound installation (drinking fountain, digitalker, speaker)
Dimensions
A total of six fountains, two on each Concourses B, C, and D
By defying the ideal that art and humor are mutually exclusive, Green's sound installations facilitate interaction and community, thereby creating public art that is truly democratic.
Denver native Jim Green engages the public with his humorous and unexpected public art pieces. Since 1984, Green has focused on site-integrated public art and has incorporated sound into his commissions to encourage meaningful interactions between everyday people and their everyday surroundings.
"My people-oriented approach uses sound to engage the public with humor and surprise to produce a social, interactive experience. I believe public art functions best when it humanizes public space." – Jim Green
Jim Green received his B.F.A. in drawing and painting from the University of Minnesota and later attended the University of Colorado, earning his M.F.A. in sculpture. He has served on many panels throughout the nation including the Public Art Evaluation Panel for Denver, Colorado, and as an artist on design teams in North Carolina and Tennessee.
At the Airport
Amused by Jim Green's drinking fountains? Visit Norman Andersen's kinetic sculpture titled Rainmaker's Baggage. Andersen is known for his sound installations, and there are many similarities between the artists and their respective approaches to creating public artwork. Follow the STQRY link below in the Connected Stories section to learn more about Rainmaker's Baggage.
These water fountains, created by Jim Green, make different sounds of water when you press the lever for a drink.