Installation Of 'Highlight' Artwork To Begin At Cox Business Convention Center Next Week, Dedication Set For May 7

Press release from City of Tulsa:

April 9, 2021

Public art soon will be added to the new plaza outside the entry of the renovated Cox Business Convention Center, 100 Civic Center. As part of the Vision Tulsa renovation project, installation of Andrew Ramiro Tirado’s “Highlight” (see attached poster) is scheduled to begin on April 12. Installation of the large sculpture is expected to take about two weeks, weather permitting. A dedication is scheduled for May 7.

The sculpture “Highlight” consists of three elements – a plug, an electrical cord and a light bulb – representing Tulsa’s past, present and future. The artist Tirado explains his intent for the meaning of the piece:

• The two-prong plug represents Tulsa’s periods of rapid transformation. Its blue dome symbolizes both Tulsa’s Blue Dome Station as well as the city’s early stake in the exploration of the vast, blue dome of sky and space.
• The electrical cord symbolizes the present as the link from past to future – a strand of historical interconnectedness and social interdependency.
• Finally, as the universal icon for invention, resolute problem solving, energy, enlightenment, and understanding, the light bulb is the ideal symbol for the future – both Tulsa’s and for all who share the city’s high aspirations and vision.

Tirado created the light bulb and plug in his studio in Colorado Springs, Colo. The electrical cord has been fabricated in Tulsa at American Pipe Bending. The budget for this artwork was $430,000 from the Vision Tulsa sales tax.

“Public art is like a coat hook – something on which to hang one’s perception of place,” Tirado said. “As with architecture and landscape design, creating public art means that while you might envision the possibilities, it’s really the public that ultimately decides how they want to relate to or interact with the work.”

The $54 million renovation completed in summer 2020 improved the Cox Business Convention Center east entrance with a three-story glass entryway and replaced the plaza bridge with an accessible, landscaped public plaza gathering area. Replacing the former arena, the 42,000 square-foot Grand Hall makes Tulsa the home of the two largest ballrooms in Oklahoma, both in the Cox Business Convention Center: the Tulsa Ballroom completed in a Vision 2025 project, and the new Grand Hall.

Other features of the 2020 renovation include a new 27,000 square foot kitchen, box office, greatly increased natural light, green room, tasting room, and finishing kitchen on the event level. This renovation allows the Cox Business Convention Center to accommodate top quality conventions and business events on a larger scale than before.

This press release was produced by the City of Tulsa. The views expressed here are the author’s own.