Campus Digest: Public Art
3/10/2003 | | "The Medium," by Janet Zwieg (Photo courtesy of the Weisman Art Museum) |
Who Owns Our Campus Art?
You may not realize it, but you own art. In fact, you’re quite an aficionado. You and every other sensible Minnesotan have invested in public art—art that’s funded by the people, for the people. The money comes from a 1983 state law mandating that 1 percent of the construction cost of all state-funded buildings (which includes most University buildings) be set aside for public art specific to that building.
The University of Minnesota’s Public Art on Campus program, which began in 1988, is one of about 300 public art programs in the nation. It has grown into one of the country’s largest and most dynamic, with more than three dozen permanent pieces and a full menu of temporary works. Environments range from interior interactive exhibits to outdoor sculpture to functional landscapes like the entryway to the St. Paul Gymnasium.
"Public art is a long conversation," says Shelley Willis, the U’s public art coordinator. "When funds become available for a new piece, we assemble a committee composed of faculty and staff who will ‘live’ in the building, architects, people from planning and facilities management, maybe the dean involved, [and many others]."
This ad hoc committee decides on an overriding goal—to educate, memorialize, amuse, challenge, etc.—and how to go about achieving it. The selected artist creates a new work with the committee’s guidance. "Except in the case of a design contest, artists are chosen based on their past work and a certain chemistry," explains Willis. "Departments all have a personality, a culture. They choose an artist whose work reflects that culture. For example, the Animal Sciences and Agriculture people chose Peter Woytuk, whose work is very solid and realistic. He created the massive bronze  | | Michael Cohen at work on "Pressure, Tension, Stress, Release." (Photo courtesy of Weisman Art Museum) |
bulls on the front lawn of the St. Paul campus.
A map of public art on campus is available at the Weisman Art Museum so you can walk around and appreciate your collection.
—Sarah Barker
The Medium
Artist: Janet Zweig, New York City
Location: Inside Murphy Hall
Description: A pair of facing benches, flat–screen monitors, and cameras. Subjects interact through the monitors, rather than face to face. In keeping with the dynamic nature of journalism (the school is housed in Murphy Hall), Zweig intends to update The Medium with different audio and video effects.
Comment: "I think the committee chose me because my work is conceptually based, participatory, and often uses humor to express complex ideas," says Zweig. "In this case, I wanted students to be able to experience the fact that everything we see or hear through the filter of the media is transformed, interpreted, and manipulated—that none of it is the unvarnished truth."
Pressure, Tension, Stress, Release
Artist: Michael Cohen, Minneapolis
Location: To be installed in March, high on an exterior wall of the University Recreation Center, visible from University Avenue
Description: Low-relief lights, reflective during the day and computer-timed to change color at night. Cohen was selected based on previous work including a lighted piece in the lobby ceiling of Target Center.
Comment: "I think the committee liked the idea that I work with light and luminous pieces because it connotes energy and movement, similar to the activity going on inside the building," says Cohen. "I chose the exterior because I felt it best served the idea of public art. It’s accessible to the most people."
 | | | |  | | Public Art on Campus | Minneapolis West Bank
Untitled, oil on canvas; Carlson School of Management, dean’s office
The Humphrey Garden; Humphrey Institute, exterior plaza
Sphere; Carlson School of Management, interior atrium
Stepped Tower; Anderson Library, exterior courtyard
Promethius; Anderson Hall, exterior
Shiruku Kawa (Silk River); Carlson School of Management, dean’s office
Landscape; Law School, interior
16 Minnesota Configurations; Wilson Library, interior stairwells
Pangaea; Carlson School of Management, dean’s office
Don Quixote; Law School, interior
Minneapolis East Bank
Wolves and Moose, Predator and Prey; James Ford Bell Museum of Natural History, exterior
Knotted Wye II; Vincent Hall, math library
Governor John Pillsbury; Burton Hall, exterior
10 Minnesota Dwellings; Ford Hall, interior
Platonic Figure; Mechanical Engineering Building, exterior
Rokker V; Williamson Hall, exterior
10 to the minus 6; Amundson Hall, exterior
The Crucible; Amundson Hall, exterior and interior
Leaves; Elliot Hall, exterior
Spanish-American War Soldier; Armory, exterior
The Language of Skies. Appleby Hall, interior
Minnesota in 3 Quarter Time; Department of Physics, Tate Laboratory
Untitled bronze; Integrated Waste Management Facility, exterior
The Medium; Murphy Hall, interior
St. Paul
Untitled plant, metal, wood and concrete; Green Hall, exterior
Aesop Says; Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, exterior
Museum of the School of Social Work; Peters Hall interior
Eco-Rhythms; Ecology Building, interior
Rhythmics; St. Paul Gym, exterior
Untitled bronze; Haeker Hall, exterior
Minnesota Landscape Arboretum
Untitled bronze; Exterior
Wedding Tower; Exterior
St. Francis of Assisi; Exterior
Untitled mural; Sudan Underground Laboratory
Coming soon…
Pressure, Tension, Stress, Release; University Recreation Center, exterior
As yet untitled works by:
Harriet Bart, Walter Library
Eduardo Kac, Microbial and Plant Genomics Building
Ann Hamilton, Molecular and Cellular Biology Building
John Roloff, College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture
|
|
Print View
