#9 – (10/16) Mercedes Garcia – “Tilted Arc” by Richard Serra

Tilted Arc was an installation piece commissioned by the City of New York and designed by the acclaimed minimalist sculptor Richard Serra in the early 1980s. While it was initially met with praise, after a few short years it became the subject of animosity between the city and the artist himself. It occupied a relatively small space in the plaza of the Javits Federal Building, measuring about 12 feet high but stretching nearly 100 feet across. What I found so interesting when hearing about this artwork for the first time was the disparity between the artist’s intention and the people who encountered his work every day – Richard Serra had meant this sculpture to alert people to their own movements within the space and the affect it had on their perception of something unmoving yet most people who encountered it were more concerned with having to walk around it. In the end, the sculpture was removed, to the great disdain of the artist. While beautiful, I think it provides a lesson on the importance of space.