In terms of metaphor, this week’s shocking images of bulldozers tearing into the White House feel a little too on-the-nose. President Trump is proceeding with his plan to build a 90,000-square-foot ballroom that will dwarf the historic residence. In the process — and without the standard architectural review — he is demolishing the East Wing.
Art x NW (formerly ArtSEA) is a weekly arts and culture newsletter from Cascade PBS. Read past issues and subscribe for more.
Even outside the heavy political symbology in Washington, D.C., historic buildings hold tremendous psychological meaning and can spark intense emotions. I was thinking about this yesterday as I walked by the (long-planned and approved) demolition of Memorial Stadium on the Seattle Center campus.
While it doesn’t hold the same weight as the East Wing destruction, and I’ve personally only spent time in the stadium during Bumbershoot concerts, I still felt sadness in seeing only a small chunk of stands left standing amid the rubble. (The neighboring Memorial Wall, designed by Garfield High School student Marianne Hanson in 1951, is protected as a city landmark.) Despite being inanimate constructions of concrete, wood and rebar, buildings hook into our hearts and humanity.
I was at Seattle Center yesterday to visit another historic building: the Pacific Science Center. Built as a temporary structure for the 1962 World’s Fair, PacSci has just reopened after a six-week closure for renovations. Part of the makeover involved moving the main entrance from Denny Way to the north side of the building, where the most significant architectural elements spring skyward from the fountain court.
Designed by architect Minoru Yamasaki, the building elicited strong feelings when it first went up — namely outrage from midcentury-modern architects who felt the gothic arches and other external flourishes were too ornate. Some dismissed it as a wedding cake; I.M. Pei said, “At best, this building is mere artistic caprice.” But Yamasaki argued a building “must be like a human being. It must have a wholeness about it.”
Snooty architects aside, visitors past and present have appreciated the “artistic caprice” of the Pacific Science Center’s “space gothic” elements — and many have a special attachment to the fountain court, which is currently under review due to leaking problems with the iconic pools. (One plan to replace the pools with grasses, floated in 2023, elicited a public outcry.)
The future design of the fountain court is to be determined, but as of today another important shift has been implemented there: free entry through the forbidding north gates.
The kiosks, fencing and gates separate PacSci from the Seattle Center campus in a major way. Added in 1993, they were decidedly not a part of Yamasaki’s humanist and holistic design. I haven’t been able to find any reports of why the gates were deemed necessary in the ’90s, but perhaps the Laser Dome crowds were getting out of hand? If anyone out there knows, send me a note.
In any case, the courtyard gates are now open daily (9:45 a.m. - 11 p.m.). PacSci marketing director Julie O’Mara tells me people are welcome and encouraged to walk through, bring on-leash dogs, or pack a snack and “have lunch with the dinosaurs” that still wade in the pools. (O’Mara further reported that today’s first visitor through the newly opened gates was a dog named Octavia, visiting from Vancouver, B.C., with her human companion.) The plan is to remove the physical gates entirely before FIFA 2026.
Once inside the PacSci doors, you’ll find something new as well: spiders, and lots of them. An expansive new traveling exhibit (organized by the Australia Museum) features everything you always wanted to know about spiders but were afraid to ask.
Spiders: From Fear to Fascination (through April 2026) packs the western exhibit hall with facts and interactive activities about spider anatomy, gender roles, mating habits, venom capabilities and web design. In addition to some 200 preserved specimens, more than a dozen live spiders are on view in zoo-style habitats, including a basic wolf spider that scared the bejeezus out of me when I finally spotted it hiding in a corner.
I am not sure I moved fully “from fear to fascination,” but I did enjoy encountering the many spider names (ogre-faced spider, Mexican golden rump tarantula). And the thing that most surprised me in the live exhibits: what look like tiny delft pottery water dishes in each habitat. I hope with their abundance of eyes the spiders can appreciate the delicate blue-and-white design!
Yearning to hear some new music?
> As part of the Earshot Jazz Festival, Seattle’s Kassa Overall will perform his signature blend of jazz and hip-hop, along with Afro-jazz from opener Alune Wade. (Oct. 25 at 8 p.m. at Hidden Hall in Fremont)
> At Meany Hall, Sandbox Percussion brings 80-some instruments to the stage for the West Coast premiere of composer Matthew Aucoin’s vocal symphony, Music for New Bodies (Nov. 1 at 7:30 p.m.). With a libretto based on the poetry of Jorie Graham, the work attempts to address the big questions, including “What is the future of humanity?” (Spoiler: The outlook might look better for spiders.)
> Two stellar Seattle musicians — Gretta Harley and Sarah Rudinoff — take the Royal Room stage to perform the song cycle Element 115 (Uup) and a reprise of their grunge-homage We Are Golden. (Oct. 25 at 7:30 p.m.)
> And Seattle group Music of Remembrance stages a mixed bill of new classical compositions along the theme of immigration struggles. Witness to Courage (Oct. 26 at 3 p.m. at Benaroya Hall; pre-concert with immigrant rights leaders at 2:30) features four works that convey stories of migration through music.
Or perhaps a show that centers movement and motion (courtesy of Cascade PBS newsletter editor Sophie Grossman — Thank you, Sophie!) ...
> Chicago shimmies and rolls into The Fifth Avenue Theatre (through Nov. 2). Choreographer Bob Fosse’s genre-defining style meets a Jazz Age tale of true crime, toxic media cycles, celebrity and corruption that rings with contemporary relevance.
> Larissa FastHorse’s one-woman show Fancy Dancer (through Nov. 2 at Seattle Rep) tells the wholesome coming-of-age story of a half-Lakota girl who dreams of following in the footsteps of her idol, legendary prima ballerina Maria Tallchief.
> Threads (through Nov. 8 at 12th Avenue Arts), the latest show from Acrobatic Conundrum, a cerebral, cult-favorite local circus arts company, explores themes of connection, interdependence and the messy reality of community through intricate, tangled ropes choreography.
> Pulling into King Street Station is The Seattle Project, a contemporary dance collective led by Pacific Northwest Ballet dancer Amanda Morgan. Arrivals (Oct. 25 at 4 p.m.), choreographed and directed by Morgan, features dancers moving around the ornate King Street Station balconies as unsuspecting travelers go about their business on the ground below.
> Etsuko Ichikawa’s swooping, dynamic pyrographs (a technique she developed by happenstance at the Pilchuck Glass School) capture the ephemeral, explosive movement of their creation with molten glass. Homecoming (Oct. 23 – Dec. 13 at Winston Wächter Gallery) marks a full-circle moment for the longtime Seattle artist, who now lives in Tokyo.
Catch up with the printmakers, painters, sculptors, carvers and photographers featured in the new season of Art by Northwest.
