Tilted Arc Analysis

The artist Richard Serra, in 1981, installed his sculpture, Tilted Arc, in the Federal Plaza in New York City. Even though the piece had been commissioned by the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), the Arts-In-Architecture program, it immediately caused controversy. In 1963, the GSA established the Arts-In Architecture program to make ½ of 1% of a federal building’s cost to be spent on public art. The point of this program was to enhance public spaces and to expand the public’s awareness of contemporary art by installing artworks created by contemporary U.S. artists.

The size of the structure caused it to become an immediate eyesore to some people, especially the ones that worked in the surrounding area. Tilted Arc is a curving wall of raw steel that is 120 feet long and 12 feet high and it carves the space of the Federal
But if I step back and try to look at it logically I can definitely see why this caused so much controversy and 26 years later we are still talking about it and writing papers about the case. Yes, a committee backed by the federal government did commission this piece for a federal plaza and yes, the artist chosen believed that this sculpture would be there forever like the Statue of Liberty for instance. But most people did not understand the symbolism of this piece, it’s just a big dark, metal wall, what is its significance, what is its meaning? The average public would not understand the meaning of the piece, should that matter? I guess my thought is just because the government-funded it doesn’t mean we should be stuck with it forever. Our government funds a lot of things that we as Americans don’t agree with and we should have a say in some of the