Acting on a tip from a reader, I hung around the back of the old Physics Building today and watched the installation of a new piece of sculpture on the concrete X I’d had my eye on. The artist is named Mark Di Suvero, and you can find a short bio of him here. It sounds quite impressive. So, here’s the piece:
And here’s the base:
It’s created some interesting new views:
Before we got it, the piece was installed as part of an exhibition at Governor’s Island. You can see it here with some of di Suvero’s other work.
It sits pretty darn close to where H.A. Wilson had his nuclear reactor in a shed. I wonder what he would have thought of it. Somehow I picked up the idea that he was an art lover, but I’m not sure where.
Bonus: Over at the Glasscock School of Continuing Studies they’re getting ready to move into their new building. This means, of course, that all kinds of strange old stuff is turning up. (No, I’m not referring to the staff.) They’re putting some of it up on their blog in a series called “Flashback Fridays.” Last Friday’s in particular is great–click over there and watch the promotional video made by Brian Huberman of the Media Center in 1987. It’s a hoot.
I thought it might be a registration mark for future aerial photos. Maybe you should paint a couple of those on the parking lots for future historians.
You could paint the year somewhere. Repaint each year.
Is it the sculpture entitled “Po-um, 2003,” which is shown in this slide show of the Governor’s Island pieces: http://markdisuvero.squarespace.com/the-sculptures/2012-exhibition/ ?
Yes, it sure is. Sharp eyes, Mike.
Neat! A video snippet of David Parsons!
That’s exactly what made me post it!
“It sits pretty darn close to where H.A. Wilson had his nuclear reactor in a shed.”
As I recall, at University of Chicago there is a sculpture of some kind (as well as a historical marker) at the site where Enrico Fermi built the first nuclear reactor in a squash court.
Correct, George. The sculpture is “Nuclear Energy” by Henry Moore (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_Energy_(sculpture), located at the site where Fermi’s team built the original “Chicago Pile-1” … under the grandstands of the university’s abandoned Stagg Field ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Pile-1) The site is designated as a National Historic Landmark (February 18, 1965 – http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_zJpnTu57Koc/TOflRXz58bI/AAAAAAAAYV0/hXyBRfb4OQ0/s1600/LI-sculp-WP-065b.jpg), National Register of Historic Places (October 15, 1966) and a Chicago Landmark ( October 27, 1971 – http://chicago-outdoor-sculptures.blogspot.com/2009/08/nuclear-energy-site-of-worlds-first.html )