Prior Works
While there are many works of landmark public art, four examples are most appropriate for this proposal:
The Clock of the Long Now was designed and built by Danny Hillis, founder of Thinking Machines and member of the board of directors of the Long Now Foundation. The clock is designed to run for 10,000 years. The purpose of the clock is to encourage people to think about how their actions today will affect the lives of others a thousand, five thousand, or ten thousand years from now. The clock was designed to be attractive and “open source” so that if someone found that the clock had stopped working, they would be able to make repairs. The ultimate work will be 80 to 100 feet high and located in a remote mountain in Nevada. 
Photo: Rolfe Horn
The Electric Light Tower was built in downtown San José in 1881. The inspiration of James Jerome Owen, a local businessman, the Tower was designed to showcase San José as the first city west of the Mississippi to have electricity and to inspire the spread of electricity throughout the city1. The Tower was meant to be a functioning symbol; it captivated imagination with its innovation while literally illuminating the technology that led to the widespread use of electricity. It was a catalyzing public artwork that heralded its message in every aspect of its conception, production and display.
Jaume Plensa’s Crown Fountain in Chicago’s Millennium Park illustrates and celebrates that city’s diversity by showing the many faces of its residents and bringing people together in a joyous interactive experience. Two monumental video screens face each other across a large reflecting pool. Each screen depicts the face of a person looking across the pool at another person; each one smiling, blowing a kiss then fading away. Each person’s “kiss” becomes a stream of water that spills into the reflecting pool and, as one face fades away, it is washed by a cascade of water then reappears as another face. Just as people of all ages, cultural backgrounds and abilities are depicted on the screen, people from all walks of life are drawn to the fountain to see the videos, play in the pool and interact with each other. The artwork promotes human understanding by drawing people together in a positive and celebratory experience.
Photo:www.aviewoncities.com
Maya Lin’s Vietnam Memorial succeeded in attracting visitors and evoking strong emotional responses to the war. With her simple concept of taking people on a journey down into a site carved into the earth, and inscribing the names of the lost on polished reflective stone, she created a contemplative space where people are confronted with both the human loss of war and their own faces reflected in the wall. The artwork is the opposite of a typical memorial that glorifies war and warriors. Instead, it provides a powerful, visceral experience that has encouraged people to mourn and to be confronted by the outcome of war in an immediate and personal way. The memorial draws people to it, and many have left mementos behind as a sign of respect for those who gave their lives.
1 http://www.sanjose.com/underbelly/unbelly/Sanjose/Tower/tower4.html.