Photogenesis
Brian Goggin
North SeaTac Park
Antique lampposts disguised as trees point to the changing identity of a parkland.
When Brian Goggin set out to create Photogenesis for the entrance to North SeaTac Park, he observed the site in a state of ongoing transition. The original forest had long ago given way to tribal trade routes, then to farms and a military road. Suburban homes appeared in the mid-20th century and disappeared when the nearby airport added a runway that made the area unsafe for people to live. The public space that was created when the neighborhood was razed largely fell into disuse until the late 1990s, when it began to emerge as the active parkland it is today.
Nodding to the site’s changing identity, Goggin created a trio of antique-style lamps—with posts that look like trees covered in rusty bark and branches forged from steel. Inspired by night flowers, illuminated globes at the top of the lamps pulse at different rates and in different colors. Goggin also collaborated with the city of SeaTac to enhance the park entrance with grading and plantings.
A juxtaposition of the mineral and vegetable worlds, this artwork alludes to a potential fusion of nature with technology. –Brian Goggin