Mags Harries

Pillars of Thought

Five monumental columns run along the central aisle of the main reading room in the Civic Center Library. A large face in silhouette at the top of each column projects images onto large rounded screens positioned in the clerestories. The Pillars of Thought form a procession, representing a visual metaphor for the life of the mind. Light and shadow projections symbolize different styles of thinking (structured vs. random, focused vs. divergent, geometric vs. informal). The projections, or thought patterns, slowly move and change as sunlight shines through water-driven and wind-driven reflectors. People sitting in the reading room are meant to be aware of the shifting patterns overhead without being distracted by them.

Mags Harries is from Cambridge, Massachusetts and is on the faculty of the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. She has created numerous public art projects throughout the county, many in collaboration with Lajos Héder, including Arizona Falls commissioned by the Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture.