In a move that reminds us somewhat of Burj Dubai,MGM Mirage has invested $40 million in the Fine Arts program at the new Las Vegas development City Center; an 18-million-square foot hotel, residential, shopping, entertainment and dining complex that has irrevocably changed the face of Sin City.
Las Vegas is a town of constant reinvention, innovation and forward movement. What once existed solely as a gangsters paradise, notorious for gambling, drugs and sexual excess has in recent years been transformed into an almost family-focused theme park of sorts with hotels and attractions designed to replicate some of the wonders of the world in the Nevada desert. With the addition of casinos like the Wynn, the city has made an effort to present a refined, muted and elegant side of itself in order to attract travelers of distinction and break with its hard-partying “Spring Break” image.
City Center, was designed by eight world-class architects as a kind of urban resort that offers residential and guest accommodation, but more importantly provides a sense of community. MGM Mirage CEO Jim Murren pointed to the importance of creating a sense of cultural identity for Las Vegas beyond what it has taken and rebuilt from other cities. ”Las Vegas needs to create its own identity . . . to properly take its place as one of the world’s great cities,” Murren stated. “CityCenter helps create that identity.”
To that end City Center is now in possession of one of the largest and most ambitious corporate art programs in the world, unique because it is free and accessible 24 hours a day. Curatorial adviser Michelle Quinn feels that the money spent on the art is an investment in the future of Las Vegas and its presence as a cultural hub.
“We wanted to make sure this is engaging art,” Quinn said. “This is here to be experienced. . . . If you live here, you want Las Vegas to be perceived as not just a place for great entertainment, but a place that is a great city with great culture. There are a lot of people living here that want this kind of culture.”
Because of City Center’s tremendous size- 67 acres of property, comprised of several massive buildings-e, the collection is largely comprised of large-scale sculptural works. The somewhat dubious cultural status of Las Vegas did not keep the big names away, and the collection contains contributions from such contemporary art luminaries as Maya Lin, who’s “Silver River” is 20-foot silver “cast” of the Colorado River installed high above the reception area in City Center’s resort building.
Jenny Holzer, famous for her work with text-based installations has contributed an LED-light sign to the port cochere of the Harmon Hotel Spa & Residences.
The collection includes work by large-scale sculptural icon Claes Oldenberg and Coosje van Bruggen whose “Typewriter Eraser, Scale X 1998-1999” is a 5-ton nineteen foot stainless-steel and fiberglass depiction of a red and blue typewriter eraser, sitting on a gravity defying angle with the bristles of its brush turned upwards.
Nancy Rubins “Big Edge” suggests a blooming flower in midair, made of aluminum rowboats, canoes and other small river and ocean vessels, affixed together in a gravity-defying piece, which hangs over the drive of the Vdara Hotel & Spa.
One of the most prominent works was purchased for the reception desk of the Vdara Hotel. It is Frank Stella’s “Damascus Gate Variation 1″ One of his more iconic pieces, the canvas is named for an ancient circular Islamic city. Stella’s work features a design of interlaced semicircles made of luminous colors of blue, red, orange yellow and white alkyd resin on an 8-foot-high, 32-foot-long canvas.
Jun Kaneko’s sculptures, the tallest standing at 7 feet tall are monumental rounded monoliths displayed within Mandarin Oriental’s lobby. The name ‘Dango’ is whimsical yet descriptive, meaning “Japanese dumpling.”
Artist Henry Moore has traditionally been inspired by the human body, organic shapes in nature and ancient cultures, his work “Reclining Connected Forms” is no exception. The sculpture measures approximately 10 feet tall and 17 feet long by 7 feet deep, and references a newborn in his mothers arms. The outer form of the sculpture depicts the changing shape of a pregnant figure as it protects the new life growing within.
Tony Cragg has three sculptures located within ARIA’s southern entry atrium. “Bolt,” a 10 foot tall twists and turns up its base reminiscent of a bolt of lightning; “Bent of Mind” portrays the silhouette of a face, and third sculpture (Untitled) is smooth and flowing. All of the sculptures made from highly polished stainless steel.
“Rose II” by Germany’s Isa Genzken is a sculpture of a single long-stemmed rose frozen in full bloom, towering 26 feet above the pass through of The Harmon Hotel’s driveway.
Seven Continents by Karim Rashid or “the Poet of Plastics” is an abstract form that is representative of the seven continents, it sits in front of the The Rafael Viñoly-designed Vdra hotel.
The unprecedented scale, size and ambition of City Center make the project stand out even in Las Vegas, a city of extremes. However it is the muted elegance of the spaces, and the deliberate, intellectually rigorous curation of the art and sculpture in the hotel that will be the true catalyst in the shift of our perception and ideas about the United States’ most postmodern city.
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