Welcome to Seattle Center
Throughout the year, Seattle Center hosts temporary art installations across our campus, enlivening the grounds and offering the public a unique and surprising engagement with art. Currently, we have three art installation initiatives, The Monorail Column Mural Project, Celebrate Seattle Mural, and Seattle Center Sculpture Walk. Read more about each below!
Title: Find Your Angle
Artist: Will Jewett
Location: Theatre Commons
A series of lounge chairs rests along the steps of Theater Commons, inviting visitors to kick back and take in their surroundings. Each chair leans at a slightly different angle and wears its own shade of blue, creating a gentle sense of motion across the step. Try one out—but don't be afraid to switch it up! This playful installation brings a pop of color and a lighthearted pause to an otherwise orderly stretch of stone and concrete.
Title: Cambia
Artist: Morgan Madison
Location: Artists at Play Plaza
The artist presents a tree stump inspired sculpture designed and scaled to reference mature evergreen trees of the Pacific Northwest, a valuable resource for the region’s original inhabitants and fuel for the rise of Seattle.
The form and shingle cladding call to mind the harvest of these trees and their valuable contribution to the building of this city. Incorporating the same high-tech materials that cover MoPOP, the work highlights Seattle’s evolving contributions to this region and the world. Distinct tree rings embody the cycles of change that have layered one upon another to create the complex and dynamic version of Seattle we know today. And the emerging shoot speaks of the resilience of this land and its natural denizens and embodies optimism for our shared future.
Title: Koi No Taki Nobori
Artist: Teruko Nimura
Location: Founders Court
Koi No Taki Nobori is a Japanese proverb that translates to "carp climbing a waterfall." It symbolizes overcoming seemingly impossible obstacles and perseverance. The proverb is based on a legend where koi fish, known for their strength and resilience, attempt to swim upstream and leap over a waterfall, transforming into a dragon at the top. This legend is at the heart of the Japanese children's day festival where hundreds of colorful carp kites are flown together in the spring to celebrate the health and well being of children. Working from this meaningful cultural connection, my installation for Seattle Center consists of 100 hand made carp kites installed in a sweeping arch formation in the breezeway of Founder's Court. The fish flutter with the currents of wind, animating the solid columns with color and movement to surprise and delight passers-by. Each fish is hand crafted and considered an integral part of the overall harmony of the shape, reinforcing the importance of the individual in collective efforts.
Title: Shifting Ribbons: Red Ratchet Strap Remnant Relationship 5
Artist: Megan Prince
Location: Poetry Garden
Ratchet straps, once tools of tension and compression, are transformed into flowing, lyrical forms that evoke rock strata, tree limbs, or ribbons of wind. The artist has built upon previous versions of this artwork for Seattle Center. This fifth iteration of RRSRR softens and deepens the original sculptural gesture, leaning into the poetics of restraint. The addition of poetry—directly inscribed into the materials—extends an invitation: to pause, reflect, receive, and be curious.
Seattle Monorail
International Fountain
Artist at Play Playground
Youth Generated Mural
Mural Amphitheatre
Northwest Folklife Festival
Seattle PrideFest
For more information on Seattle Office of Arts & Culture
Office of Arts & Culture Website