Panoramic Awareness Pavilion – Steve Heitzeg

I had the privilege of meeting and talking with Olafur Eliasson in May 2014 when he visited Des Moines for the dedication of his Panoramic awareness pavilion. He spoke eloquently about the sculpture as a study in light, space and plurality. It is a circular and immersive work composed of 23 panes of partially silvered colored glass, which creates a kaleidoscopic rainbow effect.

To me, it is a sculpture about light, democracy and the rainbow of possibilities. The rainbow is an evocative symbol associated with illumination, opportunity, diversity and, as represented in variations on the rainbow flag, LGBTQ+ liberation.

Scored in the bright key of B major, this movement (the last movement in Symphony In Sculpture II) is a set of variations on the seven colors of the rainbow. Influenced by Olafur Eliasson’s use of the phrase Your rainbow panorama and Your black horizon in his previous works, the sections/variations are:

Your dawn fanfare--Marked bright, sparkling, this full orchestra fanfare celebrates the evanescence and beauty of dawn.

Your aurora dance—This is a brief and druidic-inspired dance for the aurora borealis in the northern hemisphere and aurora australis in the southern hemisphere.

Your moonbow hymn—Rainbows at night are called moonbows or lunar rainbows. This variation is a contemplative hymn for strings, glockenspiel and tingshaws (small Tibetan cymbals) honoring nighttime hues.

Your noon flourish—a brass fanfare with timpani, percussion and low strings heralds solar power and energy. The low C string of the cellos and the C attachment of the basses is tuned down half a step to B; similar to the effect Respighi used in the last movement of The Pines of Rome. This variation is marked radiant, evoking ancient sun power.

Your kaleidoscopic interlude—a mixed meter and energetic dance depicting daily activities in which one of the percussionists plays a sea glass rattle as a symbolic reference to the sculpture’s colored glass panels and prisms of color. (The Pacific Ocean sea glass was found by our daughter, who has a keen eye for it, and the lake glass is from Lake Superior). Another percussionist plays a sistrum, a common percussion instrument in Ethiopia, in tribute to Olafur Eliasson’s work with 121 Ethiopia and his global project based on Little Sun, a solar-powered LED lamp designed to deliver clean, affordable, reliable light to the 1.6 billion people worldwide without access to the electrical grid. (www.littlesun.com)

Your panoramic chorus—the original theme returns, slightly altered, with the full orchestra.

Your luminous paean at dusk—an extremely high pitched and shimmering episode brings the piece to a celebratory close with huge B major chords.