High-tech art welcomes passengers at San Jose International Airport

(7-15-10) From USA Today:

Earthlings, be warned. There's a 26-foot-tall space robot with waving, propeller-tipped arms in Terminal B at California's Mineta San Jose International Airport. There's no need to be frightened. In fact, you might want to build in a little extra time to get to know this new creature. The giant, three-legged, glossy white Space Observer was created by artist Björn Schülke and is just one of more than a dozen high-tech works of art commissioned specifically for the airport's futuristic-looking new 12-gate terminal, which opened for business earlier this month…

In San Jose, 2% of any municipal capital improvement project must be set aside for public art. (Many cities have similar programs.) So the funds for the new artwork came from the $1.3 billion the airport budgeted for the modernization of Terminal A and for the construction of both Terminal B and a consolidated on-airport parking/rental car garage.