Pocket Art: Aspen Snowmass’ New Lift Ticket
How ingenious to find beautiful, stunning images in something as ordinary as a ski resort lift ticket.
When former CEO & Director Heidi Zuckerman came to Aspen to head up the Aspen Art Museum, she noticed the blank square on the lift tickets fluttering on jackets and ski pants as people bustled around town. Unaccustomed to this ski resort norm, Heidi cleverly saw the lift tickets as a blank canvas begging for artwork.
Ever since, Aspen Skiing Company has displayed unique, contemporary art on their lift tickets, which evolved from paper cards to ‘credit card style’ radio-frequency cards in the 2009-2010 season. Aspen Art Museum and Aspen Skiing Company started the collaboration in 2005 — with this season marking the 15th consecutive year of notable contemporary artists providing artwork for these unique lift tickets.
Past artists who designed lift tickets include: Hank Willis Thomas, Paula Crown, Yutaka Sone, Peter Doig, Karen Kilimnik, Jim Hodges, Carla Klein, Mamma Andersson, Mark Grotjahn, David Shrigley, Mark Bradford, Anne Collier, Takashi Murakami and Laura Owens.
Many skiers proudly collect and catalogue their ski adventures by ski passes and lift tickets. Aspen Skiing Company’s tickets stand apart from traditional lift tickets thanks to the aesthetic of the artwork displayed.
