I’m far from home today and when I opened up my briefcase I realized that I’d left my most current flash drive back in Houston. This means that all of us are at the mercy of whatever photographs I happen to have on my hard drive. It’s not ideal but I suppose that once in a while it’s good to be thrown back on my wits, such as they are.
Luckily, I have a large, if random, assortment of images with me at all times in case of such emergencies. Here are some that I dimly remember coming across in a back corner of the archives a couple of years ago—amazing photos of the quarrying and transport of the blocks of marble that comprise the Michael Heizer sculpture 45° 90° 180° that dominates the Engineering Quad. Moving things this big was a precise and intricate undertaking, carefully planned and executed:
Every turn was thought out in advance:
Somewhere I have pictures of the installation, but right at this moment I couldn’t say exactly where. Someday I’m sure they’ll come in handy.
Bonus: One of my favorite undocumented aspects of commencement is the strategic placement of pieces of green plywood to prevent people from doing damage to themselves or others.
