GRAND RAPIDS, MICH.- The Grand Rapids Art Museum presents T. J. Wilcox: In the Air, which will be on view from May 17 through August 30, 2015. Artist T. J. Wilcox's In the Air is a dazzling panoramic film installation, presenting viewers with a captivating, multidirectional, bird's-eye view of the New York City skyline.

Using the latest in digital video technology to capture footage atop his penthouse studio—18 floors above Union Square in Manhattan—Wilcox's work is a 360-degree, cinematic record of a day in the city, compressed into a 30 minute film. The New York Times has given rave reviews for In the Air, saying that, "the majesty and clarity of this wraparound vista is stunning. The city looks older, almost timeless, without the details of street traffic and storefronts."

Traveling to GRAM from the Whitney Museum of American Art, this multi-media exhibition will serve as a remarkable celebration of the urban skyline.

“We are excited to showcase this exhibition from the Whitney Museum of American Art, “noted Dana, Friis-Hansen, Director & CEO. “The successful, ongoing partnership between our two institutions is the result of the invaluable involvement and support of our shared board member, Pamella DeVos. GRAM is deeply grateful for her leadership in helping to bring world-class exhibitions like In the Air to West Michigan.”

In the Air is projected on a circular screen that is over 7 feet high and 35 feet in diameter, creating a truly mesmerizing experience for GRAM visitors that immerses them within an environment that bends time, space, history, and memory.

Pamella DeVos, GRAM Honorary Life Trustee, added, "T. J. Wilcox is not just an artist of great talent and vision, but he has also become a dear friend. In the Air debuted at the Whitney Museum of American Art, and we are so excited to bring this work to GRAM where it will be shared for the first time outside of New York City.”

In the Air shows a time-lapse panoramic view of New York City shot from the roof of the artist’s studio from dawn to dusk, interrupted by six short films inspired by a different view from the studio windows. The original vision for the Empire State Building to be an entry point for trans-Atlantic Zeppelin passengers is imagined; the apocryphal story of Andy Warhol’s launch of silver mylar balloons into the street as the Pope passed by in the 1970s is acted out; one vignette pays homage to the life of Gloria Vanderbilt, lived out in the spotlight; and the last film shows the phenomenon known as Manhattanhenge, which occurs when the sun can be seen setting in the narrow gap between the canyon-like walls of the city’s east-west street grid.

Regarding his work, Wilcox said, “I like my film and video work to appear as the visible record of my own journey through our saturated mediated age, highlighting those things that have held my attention and captured my imagination. Just as our perception of a present is a hybrid of personal memory, historical record, family lore, political, social, national, and artistic histories and mythologies, film and video provide the page upon which I make a collage of the ideas I hold most dear."

As a complement to the exhibition of T. J. Wilcox: In the Air, GRAM is creating Grand Rapids: On the Ground—a large-scale representation of the city of Grand Rapids—which will be presented on Level II of the Museum adjacent to In the Air. GRAM will invite individuals to contribute images and personal stories about life in Grand Rapids via social media. These local vignettes will be used to populate On the Ground with the stories and history of a diverse array of Grand Rapidians. The project aims to highlight landmarks in Grand Rapids as seen through the eyes of its citizens.

T. J. Wilcox: In the Air was organized by the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York and curated by Chrissie Iles, Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Curator. The Grand Rapids presentation has been made possible by the Daniel and Pamella DeVos Foundation, with the contribution of additional sponsors including Sydney DeVos, Lizbeth O’Shaughnessy, Robert Daverman, AIA / Grand Rapids Community Foundation, Triangle Associates, Inc., and J. Visser Design.