With a $13 million dollar budget for upgrades, the Salina Bicentennial Center knew what it wanted to do. It wanted to create an updated facility to draw people in and keep up to date with all the current technology. In an attempt to attract new visitors and guests, the Salina Bicentennial Center did a major overhaul in hopes new artists and shows can be held there.

As part of the renovation, and in-line with Salinas bustling art scene, they decided to hire Matthew Dehaemers to create a piece of art to capture the essence of what they were trying to accomplish. Their only requirement - the art piece had to last at least 25 years. His artwork, entitled Revival, perfectly reflects what they developed. In the artists own words, Revival is the title for this sculptural combination of glass, steel, and light and is a dual reflection of place and time. It reflects the rich tradition of burning the Kansas prairie to rejuvenate and revive an important Midwestern ecosystem. It also directly connects to the notion of revivals that brought large groups of people together to reconnect and renew to each other and their large community. 

We find that symbolic connection between rebirth of the regional prairie and the Salina Bicentennial Arena for the local community. The people that enter the arena can have a magically abstracted experience of the blazing prairie through the illumination of this colored glass filled with a series of jagged steel panels. Although this wall of fire is static in nature, it is imbued with a warmth and energy that seems catalytic and kinetic in nature.

The galvanized steel will ensure the art work lasts for years to come.