Thousands entering the Conference Center for the Saturday morning session of October 2022 general conference were greeted by new artwork depicting Jesus Christ.
Before finding their seats, many families and groups paused to admire the art and take photos in front of the mural-sized images.
The Conference Center now features 18 different images of the Savior’s life and ministry in various styles from various artists, as well as the 11-foot statue of Christ (Bertel Thorvaldsen’s sculpture the Christus) that formerly resided in Temple Square’s North Visitors’ Center and the Salt Lake Temple model that was in the South Visitors’ Center, according to Tanner Kay, a product manager with Temple Square guest experience.
The Conference Center has added several things since construction on Temple Square began, Kay said.
“One of the things that initiated the change was the shift of the primary venue for guests at Temple Square during the construction to become the Conference Center,” Kay said.
Church leaders wanted to share with them “our key messages about our faith in Jesus Christ and focus on His life and His teachings. We wanted to introduce more exhibits and experiences here in this building.”
People streaming into the Conference Center seemed to appreciate the new artwork, Kay said.
“There was a lot of pausing, quiet contemplation, smiles and people who are thoughtful, which is what we want — people to think about the Savior when they see these images,” Kay said. “You see people calling friends and family members to come closer, have a conversation about it and take a photo. That’s what we want — we want families and friends to share the experience together, to see it and experience it and tell others about it.”
What is found in the Conference Center this weekend may be different in the future.
“The installation is meant to be seasonally updated,” Kay said. “We’ll be rotating in lots of different artwork with different seasons, particularly with a focus on the seasons of Christmas and Easter. Other times during the year we’ll take opportunities to change the artwork so that we are always introducing different ways to depict the teachings of Jesus Christ in the Conference Center. We’ll keep it fresh.”
