Taoyuan International Airport Corp (TIAC) has urged the nation’s aviation regulator to help it move colorful public art installations from the arrival lobby of one of the airport’s terminals because their esthetics do not fit in.
TIAC chairman Yeh Kuang-shih (葉匡時) said on Saturday that the colorful animal figures in the arrival lobby of Terminal 2 did not match the overall esthetics and feeling of the facility and he felt they should be moved.
He added that passenger convenience was the airport’s top priority and contended that the figures were blocking the movement of people using the arrival hall.
Yeh’s biggest complaint, however, seemed to be that his company, which is responsible for managing Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, had no control over the positioning or design of the artworks because of legal restrictions.
Based on the Public Art Establishment Measures (公共藝術設置辦法) implemented in 1998, 1 percent of the construction costs of all public facilities must be allocated to public art to create more esthetically pleasing venues.
Following 10 years of deliberation after the completion of Terminal 2 in 2000, the animal figures began to be moved into Terminal 2 last year to meet the public art requirement, and the colorful statues can now be found at eight locations around the facility.
However, according to the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA), the regulation also stipulates that the public artworks must be kept in place for at least five years after they were installed.
The CAA said that if the airport wanted to move the artworks, it could not directly intervene but could only convene a panel of experts to determine if the request was valid.
The regulatory body, which said it had not received any complaints about the look of the figures, expected such a procedure to be cumbersome and time-consuming and might not achieve the result Yeh desires.
However, the TIAC executive was still determined to change the look of Terminal 2.
“TIAC is responsible for the success or failure of the airport’s operations and should have the authority to position the public artworks rather than have the decision made by a group that has nothing to do with the airport’s operations,” Yeh said.
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