Would you be more likely to stop and chat with Salt Lake City officials about new improvements coming to your neighborhood if they set up a temporary living room in the parking lot of your local grocery store?
Large-scale artist Matthew Mazzotta hopes so. He’s planning to plop a living room on the asphalt in front of the Rose Park Smith’s Food and Drug location on 600 North next week as a way of gathering ideas for a monumental new art installation set to anchor Glendale Regional Park.
“It’s a spectacle,” Mazzotta said of setting up the outdoor room for outreach. “... There could be vacuums, fake plants. There could be lamps. There could be side tables, couches, all the trimmings of what a living room might have.”
Mazzotta’s commitment to getting west-siders involved in the design of their neighborhood’s newest art piece stood out to Salt Lake City’s art officials as they waded through proposals for the park, which is currently under construction.
The first phase of the 21-acre park is set to open this summer with a playground, basketball court and an event pavilion.
Mazzotta’s art installation is due to come as a part of the second phase of construction, which will also include an outdoor pool, a skating ribbon and upgraded Jordan River access.
This will be the second ride through the Beehive State — literally — for Mazzotta, who is based in upstate New York. He toured his so-called Buscycle through Utah’s capital in 2006, a pedal-powered open-air vehicle similar to the ubiquitous party bicycles popular among bachelorette groups.
“It was his ability to understand communities, listen to them,” Renato Olmedo-González, the city’s public art manager, said about Mazzotta’s selection, “and create artworks that are very compelling and very unique and interesting that could bring that community involvement that we wanted.”
(Design Workshop | Salt Lake City) Rendering of features envisioned for Glendale Regional Park in Salt Lake City.
Mazzotta’s large-scale works are scattered across the country: a gigantic flamingo feeds at Tampa International Airport; a small house unfolds into an open-air theater in rural Alabama; and a bright pink tree offers shade and swings in Boise.
Like those projects, Mazzotta plans to build something that will draw people to the new park and create a space for Salt Lake City residents to gather. He’s relying on feedback from neighbors to guide his design.
Mazzotta plans to have the final concept done by this summer, but installation isn’t slated to wrap up until 2028.
(Salt Lake City Arts Council) Rendering of features envisioned for Glendale Regional Park in Salt Lake City.
The exact site for the artwork has yet to be finalized, but Olmedo-González said officials are considering placing the piece on the hill where Raging Waters’ slides used to be. But he and Mazzotta encouraged residents to share other ideas, too.
City leaders have earmarked about $450,000 for the art piece. Construction for the entire park could run up to $50 million.
Residents can participate in Mazzotta’s living room concept Thursday, April 24 from 6 to 8 p.m. in the Smith’s parking lot, at 1174 W. 600 North and on Saturday, April 26 from 1 to 3 p.m. in the International Peace Gardens, at 1060 S. 900 West.
