Flow

In early October 2007, Odili Donald Odita began a month-long transformation of
Kaplan Hall, the lobby of the Lois & Richard Rosenthal Center for Contemporary
Art designed by acclaimed architect Zaha Hadid. Odita named the resulting
site-specific wall painting FLOW. “Coming into the space, I felt very energized
by the design and the architecture,” Odita says. “What I responded to in the
space was the energy of being inside and outside at the same time.”

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FLOW dissolves the distinction between inside and outside, asserting Kaplan
Hall’s role as the community space that Hadid envisioned—the urban carpet
that transforms the interior lobby into a public square. Free of any fixed point of
perspective, FLOW offers visitors nearly endless angles from which to consider
the work and its relationship to Hadid’s architecture. FLOW also propels vision
outward, creating a heightened awareness of the intersecting movements of
pedestrians and vehicles. The work is equally compelling when viewed from
outside with two of the best vantage points looking north from the skywalk
over Walnut Street and looking west along Sixth Street. Indeed, a portion of
FLOW faces Walnut Street and is only visible from outside.