9-Line
West Side 9-Line Trail Public Art
Salt Lake City, Utah
Finalist proposal 2026
Concept, design, and execution: Wes Heiss & Marek Walczak
Developed for the West Side of Salt Lake City, this proposal consists of 5 individual works strategically positioned along a 1.5 mile long section of 9-Line Trail.
This unique neighborhood is home to an incredible diversity of immigrants from around the world. Each piece utilizes a new strategy to reflect the community, tell the story of the site, and connect users of the trail to their surroundings.
While each of the five sculptures are quite different from one another they all are tuned to their location and unified through color and materials.
01. WORD
The West Side of Salt Lake City is incredibly diverse with over 100 languages spoken in homes across its many neighborhoods.
WORD is a folded obelisk marking the start of the West Side 9-line Trail. This stacked anti-prism is a rosetta stone of the community. When standing in one of 12 different spots around the sculpture the word for “trail” can be found in a different language. Footsteps are embedded into the ground to provide guidance on where to stand.
As you walk around the piece a jumble of perforations in the surface will alternately reveal and conceal this connection to native languages.
02. FACE OUT
Sited at the intersection of 900W and the 9-Line, this piece is an anchor of the community and a place of personal identity. This proposed piece would capture around 1000 silhouettes of local residents and translate them into a column of laser cut metal.
The piece captures a moment in time, a memorial to the West Side, and a work that will be endlessly fascinating. Those that leave can return to find themselves or their relatives again and again.
At the base of the column the names of everyone who participated are memorialised in a cylindrical bronze plaque.
03. SOUNDING
Positioned next to the Jordan River, this work is surrounded by a natural world that has recently been reclaimed. The work hopes that as the Jordan River is explored, as the wetland grows, sounds and images will be collected and heard here.
This flowing metal sculpture has two interactive components. By scanning a QR code, any smartphone will be directed to recorded sounds of the Jordan River. By placing the phone in one of three trays, the phone will be amplified through a passive horn and shared with the person standing next to you. Three phones can be placed in different spots, creating a small symphony of natural sounds.
The second interactive component is a periscope above and in the center of the piece. It looks down the 9-line to the Wasatch mountains beyond. Looking up, you connect the sound of the water to the mountains where the water came from.
04. WHERE-R-U
A wayfinding sign of sorts, the sculpture positioned along Navajo St has signs to places and histories that have emotional meaning. Each sign is drawn by school kids in the area. Some prompts, like ‘The International Peace Park’ and other locations will be given, but otherwise everyone is free to express their own direction.
These drawings are then used to generate laser-cut signs that together celebrate a neighborhood that everyone can explore.
05. NINE LINE SIGN
This work is situated at Redwood Road where there is an abrupt transition from residential to industrial. Meant to be equally accessible to cars on Redwood and those walking along the 9-Line, this piece announces the start/end of the trail.
Folded metal panels hide and then reveal both words and color when viewed from specific locations. In the lower frame of the piece we place a viewing scope for pedestrians that extends the history of this former rail line and looks off to the future of Salt Lake City.
