Place, Space, Context: Locating Contemporary Art

Place, Space, Context: Locating Contemporary Art

Introduction

Tilted Arc is located on the Federal Plaza and the sculpture bisects the whole space, obstructing the paths and views of the people who visit the plaza. It is comprised of an unfinished and solid COR-TEN steel plate spanning on a length of 120 feet, width of 2.5 inches and heights of 12 feet.

Richard Serras and the Tilted Arc

According Richard Serra, the creator of the Tilted Arc, the site commissioned for his masterpiece was not was interesting to him. He felt it was more of a pedestal site. His works were increasing in size and proportion as he designed more and more sculptures for public places. Tilted Arc occupies space which is seen but not navigated through by the pedestrians. It cuts along the curved boundaries of its home, leaving its immediate neighbors, i.e. driveways, buildings, grassy lozenges and crosswalks tangential to the sweep. Even though the sculpture is a testament to the uninhabited space, it is still located at a place which sees heavy traffic every day. Since it is situated mostly in the path of people who are not familiar with modern art, the sculpture demands people attention doing exactly what Serra wanted it to do, not look like an adornment, but a subject of the space (Jordan, 1987).

Discussion

 Inevitably, in 181, when the Arc was installed, it drew lots of hostile reactions for the audience. From the Federal Complex, around 1,300 employees sent petitions and letters to newspapers to remove the sculpture, which did not 'adorn' the site. It prompted a mixed response from the art world as well. The art community was in the era where the taste was changing more towards newer forms of sculpture and figurative painting, for them it seemed to show incorporation even if it's not the co-optation of institutional culture's Minimal esthetic. However, Serra's masterpiece still retained unflinching endorsement from the government which has assisted its power of confrontation and against all expectations the uproar it caused still exists. Interestingly, the offense was compounded by the Federal Sponsorship making the sculpture the official pro vocation which split the public from the art community and the ironically the art community further with itself.

 Dwight Ink, an administrator of the GSA tried to break this stalemate, but deciding to change the location of the Tilted Arc with some odd conditions that lend this decision, a Solomonic r at. Ink's relocation process requires that the officers of the local GSA look for a suitable alternate location for the panel of NEA-'s approval and the artist. However, Serra's words were clear that he did not intend to accept what he believe would be a destruction of the work not a relocation. No museum or institution would accept the artwork without the creators consent. So even though Ink's decision was in favor of the people who opposed the sculpture, the conditions ensure that the masterpiece isn't relocated.

 However, the real problem arose in March, during the hearings called ...