Björn Schülke Space Observer, 2010


GFK composite, aluminum, steel, electronics, motors, LCD screens, cameras, car paint.
height: 8.5 m / 28 ft, working diameter 10 m / 33 ft

Commission for the City of San José, CA
Installation at Norman Y. Mineta San José Airport - Terminal B
Production: Björn Schülke (Cologne)
Production partner: bitforms gallery (New York City)

Reminiscent of a space craft, this glossy white 28’ tall sculpture, perched on a tripod of 11’ tall legs, explores the interactivity between humans and modern technology. Engage with this elaborate, yet delicate object and it will quietly rotate with the aid of two propeller-tipped arms. Its “eye” reveals images picked up from embedded cameras .

San Jose airport swoops into the future (By Joe Rodriguez, Mercury News 06/21/2010)

If there‘s one spot at Mineta San Jose International that captures the feel of the airport‘s billion dollar makeover, it‘s at the top of the escalator at the new Terminal B.
Standing on a huge, mezzanine filled with natural light, an imposing three-legged sculpture named „Space Observer“ stops you cold. With a camera and monitor inside a turning head, Observer can see and track you as you walk around it. For a while, machine and human dance together in the fleeting zone between trusted security and creepy surveillance. And then off you go to catch your plane. The snooping isn‘t real. That comes later...

High-tech art welcomes passengers at San Jose International Airport
(By Harriet Baskas, USA TODAY, 07/16/2010)

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 Bjoern Schuelke 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...