The Tilted Arc was a Minimalist steel sculpture created by Richard Serra. Its creation was commissioned specifically for the Federal Plaza in 1981. I thought that this sculpture would be an interesting piece to talk about given its reception and impact on how people interacted with their environment (which is similar to what we are doing in Project 4).
The piece was very controversial due to the negative public response. Since it was very large and bisected the Federal Plaza, it was seen as imposing and disruptive to many workers’ daily routines. Many people called for the piece to be removed or relocated. However, the relocation of the piece would destroy the artwork as a whole. Tilted Arc was specifically made for the Federal Plaza; any other location would ruin its meaning. In this case, Tilted Arc was meant to redirect the flow of traffic within Federal Plaza and cause normally-hurried people to slow down. Relocating Tilted Arc to any other place would render the entire piece as useless.
After a trial of the piece, Tilted Arc was ultimately removed, deconstructed, and stored. For more information on this piece and its controversy, click here, here, or here.
Foundations of Art, Design, + Digital Culture 