The Tilted Arc Controversy: Dangerous Precedent?

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Summary: Tilted Arc - the Famous Public Art Sculpture
Review: The "Tilted Arc" is one of the more important and known leftovers of history of public art . In this book Harriet Senie give a vision to us of the process of order of this sculpture and of the some interveninentes that had supported and attacked this work of art. For beyond all the polemica that Richard Serra range excited, the author very raises pertinent questions on the public art, and points the reasons that had marked this controversy. It will be that the demolition of a workmanship will arise a dangerous precedent that will go to put in risk the programs of public art? It will be that from the moment that the state and the public contests a workmanship, this will have to be placed another place or only destroyed? These and other questions are boarded for Harriet Senie, that of shining form contextualize one of the sculpture pol?micas of century XX.




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Summary: For whom is public art?
Review: Tilted Arc by Richard Serra, one of the largest public sculptures commissioned for a Federal building, was removed from its New York site in 1989, only eight years after it was installed, as a result of the most famous conflict between artist and public opinion. The book describes in detail the fate of a difficult work by this great (if macho) living sculptor, analyzing the multiple issues and problems that surround the public art process. Harriet Senie is one of the very rare modern art historians who have concentrated on public art, and the one who knows most about its history and politics. Unencumbered by the complexities of present critical theory, she writes in the simple language of the journalist (not inappropriate for the subject and its audience), trying to be fair to all points of view.

The Preface of the book outlines its entire content, while the four chapters (1. Commission, Installation, Removal; 2. Public Opinion; 3. Reframing the Controversy; and 4. After Tilted Arc) are neatly divided into many subsections with titles easy to follow. A Conclusion summarizes the subject and the complex questions it raises. In-between, Senie manages to discuss quite a bit of Serra's art before and after Tilted Arc, and to quote his uncompromising and always illuminating opinions... The fifty-five b&w reproductions, while of rather grim grayness, illustrate adequately the artist's related works and comparable public plazas with sculptures by other artists.

Aside from bringing together a great deal of material about this particular public art debate, Senie's book is also an invaluable source of information on public art policies in this country and on the history of federally-sponsored public art of the last quarter of the 20th century (the NEA and GSA programs). While perhaps a little repetitive, it is a goldmine of information and a must for artists, historians and policy makers interested in public sculpture.