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SALT LAKE CITY -— An interactive exhibit that senses and responds to people will greet visitors when The Leonardo opens this spring.
Leonardo officials got permission Tuesday from the Salt Lake City Council to use a $750,000 grant from the city to purchase and install "Hylozoic Soil," an exhibit by Toronto-based artist, architect and engineer Philip Beesely.
The City Council, acting as the city Redevelopment Agency board of directors, in April 2009 committed the funds for seismic upgrades to the old library building at 209 E. 500 South — the home of the science, technology and art center.
The economic downturn has resulted in lower-than-expected construction bids, allowing The Leonardo to make necessary renovations to the building without dipping into the $750,000 grant from the RDA, city officials said.
"We have an exciting opportunity here to use the funds in a way that will increase social value and economic potential and encourage private investment," Peter Giles, executive director of The Leonardo, told city leaders.
"Hylozoic Soil" is described on the artist's website, www.philipbeesleyarchitect.com, as "a geotextile mesh that senses human occupants and responds with air movement produced by peristaltic waves of motion within distributed fields of lightweight pores."
The Leonardo will become the first to exhibit the installation in the United States, Giles said.
"My own visits to Salt Lake City left a powerful impression on me, both for the extraordinary landscape and urban form and for its unique cultural and spiritual heritage," Beesley said in a statement provided by The Leonardo. " 'Hylozoic Soil' integrates (our) shared values of human caring and environmental sustainability, combined with confidence in creativity and experiment."
The exhibit is planned for the lobby of The Leonardo, allowing all who enter the building to view and experience it without having to pay admission.
Giles said he believes the exhibit will increase economic activity around Library Square. Beesley's installations collectively have attracted more than 750,000 to exhibits in Europe and Asia, he said.
It also will provide educational and volunteering options for the surrounding community, Giles said. Educational programming will be part of the exhibit, and volunteers will be needed to help install and maintain the structure.
The Leonardo would own the exhibit, allowing it to be displayed as long as museum officials choose to do so.
The Leonardo is set to open in the spring, though a specific date has not yet been announced.
E-mail: jpage@desnews.com
