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Austin360 blogs > Austin Arts: Seeing Things > Archives > 2011 > March > 04 > Entry
UT acquires a Sol LeWitt sculpture for permanent outside display
The University of Texas has acquired a major sculpture by Sol LeWitt that will be placed at the entrance to the new Dell Computer Science Hall and Bill and Melinda Gates Computer Science Complex.
“Circle with Towers” is one of two concrete-block pieces LeWitt, who died in 2007, made in 2005 for New York’s Madison Square Park. LeWitt donated the sculptures to the Madison Square Park Conservancy so that the organization could establish a permanent endowment for artwork in Madison Square Park.
The university paid $700,000 for the art work which was purchased from the Madison Square Park Conservancy. The purchase was made under the auspices of Landmarks, UT’s public art program.
The Landmarks program was started in 2008 as part of UT Art in Public Spaces program. The program sets aside 1 to 2 percent of ongoing capital improvement projects for the acquisition of public art.
The unveiling of “Circle with Towers” will coincide with the opening of the new computer science complex in September.
“LeWitt’s structure will serve not only as an object in its own right but also as a new place that will allow students to interact with the Computer Science environment in a way that is informal and was nonexistent before,” said Andrew Houston, a member of the Faculty Building Advisory Committee and architecture and urban studies undergraduate. “It will be a focal point of intellectual debate and exploration—both of its embodied ideas and its physical presence.”
Photo from artnet.com.
Comments
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By FSK
March 25, 2011 3:20 PM | Link to this
1-2% of the cost of the computer science building is allocated to public art. Hence the line: “The program sets aside 1 to 2 percent of ongoing capital improvement projects for the acquisition of public art.” This is how (and almost the only way) most universities and public institutions acquire public artworks to contribute to the aesthetic and intellectual aspects of a campus, rather than having only football stadiums and starbucks everywhere. perhaps we should save the drama for expenses over 2%… of a project that is already a small percentage of UT’s expenses (and usually primarily paid with by money from donors, not just your tuition).
By Nick Luchsinger
March 10, 2011 12:37 AM | Link to this
I think the sculpture looks okay—art is subjective, after all—but paying $700k for something that UT’s own art students and engineers could have easily designed, built, and installed for under $50k (my wild overestimate)…that is completely ridiculous. Public universities have no business paying for the names attached to artwork—only the art itself. There is absolutely no semblance of consensus amongst the public as to how much a name is worth (I vote $0), so some random suit at the University should not be making that decision.
And of course, if UT’s students had created the sculpture, we could actually be proud of it; THAT is something I can attach value to.
—UT Computer Science grad
By thatoneguy
March 10, 2011 12:28 AM | Link to this
there goes my tuition…….