3. Sandra Lopez-Monsalve in LaGuardia Airport’s Marine Air Terminal

While this installation is not necessarily outdoors, it still made the list because it is in an airport, which is not exactly the most conventional place for public art, and is far outside the realm of museums and galleries. Sandra Lopez-Monsalve, multimedia producer and sound artist, has begun work on her latest project, Sounds of LaGuardia. The piece is referred to as a “sonic exploration of LaGuardia Airport“, in which Lopez-Monsalve records the sounds of travelers moving through the airport in conjunction with another spoken component detailing the histories of the airport. Rather than creating a visual display for people to observe, Lopez-Monsalve seeks to directly engage with travelers; the art piece is both the act of story gathering and the resulting sound compilations that are uploaded to the project’s website.

Voices of LaGuardia Week 1

There are three components to the project: Voices of LaGuardia, which asks travelers a reflection question regarding travel; the Sonomap, in which ambient noises of the airport are recorded and uploaded to a digital map where listeners can choose from the various locations; and Stories of LaGuardia, which features radio-style stories about the history and visual aspects of the airport.

Lopez-Monsalve will be working in various locations around the airport until September 30. The website’s calendar is consistently updated with the times and dates of the artist’s open studios.