Node B: Willie Cole’s "Ornithology"
Willie Cole proposed a "cultural installation that embraces Kansas City's rich musical legacy and its bounty of ecological wonders," as public art administrator James Martin described.
Alto saxophones, with a nod to jazz saxophonist Charlie "Yardbird" Parker, are combined into sculptural bird forms. A flock of 11 of these sculptures would then be suspended from the ceiling, and sound would be used to "reference time and place."
"Travelers passing through Node B would hear sounds of migrating or Missouri birds," said Martin, such as Eastern Bluebirds in the spring and hummingbirds in the summer.