![](\"https:\/\/bethanhemus.art\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Tampa-05.jpg\")
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Taken from his press release:<\/p>\n
“Matthew Mazzotta has worked at the intersection of art, activism, and urbanism, focusing on<\/p>\n
the power of the built environment to shape our relationships and experiences. Matthew<\/p>\n
Mazzotta\u2019s public projects have received international art and architecture awards such as the<\/p>\n
Architizer A+ Award, Azure\u2019s AZ Award, The WAN Award, and six of his projects have been<\/p>\n
recognized by the Americans for the Arts. He has won four of the major international<\/p>\n
Architecture awards, as well as, \u201cArchitecture Project of the Year\u201d by the Dezeen Awards at the<\/p>\n
Tate Modern in London. <\/p>\n
Flights arrive and depart from Tampa International Airport, full of travellers leaving their homes,<\/p>\n
returning back home, going to a new home, or simply to a place that feels like home. The<\/p>\n
concept of \u201chome\u201d is not only for people\u2014Florida is also home to an abundance of wildlife.<\/p>\n
HOME is a site-specific art installation that gives travellers time and space to take a deeper look<\/p>\n
at a bird whose image appears across Florida\u2014the flamingo. This floor-to-ceiling immersive<\/p>\n
installation gives viewers the impression they are underwater with the flamingo as it looks for<\/p>\n
food. The exaggerated scale of this pink bird transports us into its world and reminds us that we<\/p>\n
all share the same home.\u201d<\/p>\n
Looking up, the viewer sees a ceiling made of a specialized surface that mimics water, while<\/p>\n
hidden projectors create water-like dappling light on the bird and floor. The scale of HOME is<\/p>\n
designed to be an exciting experience close up, as well as seen from the many vantage points<\/p>\n
throughout the entire terminal. The overall effect is one of wonder, contemplation, reflection, and<\/p>\n
amusement, bringing joy to those passing through the terminal on their way to their destination.<\/p>\n
HOME draws people into this immersive experience, where they will find themselves bathed in<\/p>\n
changing lights, posing with a giant bird, sharing photos, and enjoying being together in this<\/p>\n
whimsical and otherworldly atmosphere.<\/p>\n
Earlier this year, the big pink bird was named Phoebe after an international naming contest with<\/p>\n
65,000 entries worldwide.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
More information about his work can be found at https:\/\/www.matthewmazzotta.com\/<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Considering the opportunity to put a large scale VR installation in the castle led me to researching artists who have done similar. The first artist that came to mind was Matthew Mazzotta. Taken from his press release: “Matthew Mazzotta has worked at the intersection of art, activism, and urbanism, focusing on the power of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":589,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bethanhemus.art\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bethanhemus.art\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bethanhemus.art\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bethanhemus.art\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bethanhemus.art\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=588"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bethanhemus.art\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":593,"href":"https:\/\/bethanhemus.art\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588\/revisions\/593"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bethanhemus.art\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/589"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bethanhemus.art\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bethanhemus.art\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bethanhemus.art\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![](\"https:\/\/bethanhemus.art\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/matthew-mazzotta-tampa-flamingo-18.jpg\")
<\/a><\/div>\n