The Freshman Fishwrap / IHTFP Hack Gallery

Transparent Horizon Balloons

Location: Transparent Horizon, a sculpture near East Campus
Date: 10/18/95
Perpetrators: James Tetazoo, Jr.

Louise Nevelson's sculpture Transparent Horizon, situated quaintly in the middle of the building 62-64 complex, has sprouted a series of pink, green, and purple, balloons. The present adornment, full of small, bright, round objects, contrasts the large, dark, sharp-contoured structure. The pair of artistic endeavours clash like a funeral and a sorority party. At first glance, it is not obvious whether there is significance to the placement of the lighter-than-air additions relative to the male and female portions of the sculpture, but the flying motif is well known in the artistic community.

A sign suggests that the balloons were intended to make the sculpture depart its home of the past several decades. Perhaps, this gesture is symbolic of the artist's hopeless plight at MIT. As is intuitively obvious to any 8.01 graduate, the upward force of the balloons is clearly insufficient to overcome the downward pull of gravity, much less the force of the concrete-metal interface. Nonetheless, the effort was made. The allegory of students' plights against the institutional juggernaut are clearly manifest in this expressive work.

The addition appears to be courtesy of James Tetazoo, Jr., also famous for the sculpture No Knife.

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Last modified: $Date: 1995/10/18 21:16:08 $