Tilted Arc - Controversy and Trial

Controversy and Trial

Commissioned in 1979, Tilted Arc immediately attracted both intense negative feedback, prominently from Chief Judge Edward D. Re, as well as fierce defenders. Those who worked in the area found the sculpture extremely disruptive to their daily routines, and within months the work had driven over 1300 employees in the area to sign a petition for its removal. Serra, however, wrote “it is a Site-specific work and as such is not to be relocated. To remove the work is to destroy the work.” Designed to be counterintuitive, Tilted Arc effectively redefined the space in which it existed, and due to this intimate relationship between the location and the meaning of the work, Serra's side argued, it could not exist as art unless it remained in that exact location within the Foley Plaza. Therefore it was claimed that by removing the physical steel sculpture, the government would destroy the broader work, regardless of its physical existence. Because the sculpture forced the site to function as an extension of the sculpture, it was in effect “holding the site hostage.” Calvin Tomkins, an art critic for The New Yorker magazine, was quoted saying, “I think it is perfectly legitimate to question whether public spaces and public funds are the right context for work that appeals to so few people- no matter how far it advances the concept of sculpture.”

The trial involving Tilted Arc is cited as the most notorious public sculpture controversy in the history of art law. It was argued in the trial that the work would “run the risk of deflecting explosions into government buildings opposite and impeded adequate surveillance of the area beyond.” A public hearing was held on the subject of the sculpture in March 1985, with 122 people testifying in favor of keeping the piece, and 58 in favor of removing it. Notable speakers arguing in favor of the sculpture included Philip Glass, Keith Haring, and Claes Oldenburg. Artists, art historians, and even a psychiatrist testified for the sculpture to remain in its location. Local workers argued for removal: one person stated: “Every time I pass this so-called sculpture I just can’t believe it…The General Services Administration, or whoever approved this, this goes beyond the realm of stupidity. This goes into even worse than insanity. I think an insane person would say, ‘How crazy can you be to pay $175,000 for that rusted metal wall?’ You would have to be insane-more than insane.” A jury of five voted 4–1 to remove the sculpture. The decision was appealed by Serra, leading to several years of litigation in the courts, but the sculpture was dismantled and scrapped by federal workers on the night of March 15, 1989. The removal of Tilted Arc's ability to disrupt and disturb the commuters of the Federal plaza meant, for Serra, the destruction of the meaning of the work and consequently the destruction of the work itself.

The next year saw enactment of the Visual Artists Rights Act (VARA). VARA of 1990, an amendment to the Copyright Act of 1976, provides “moral rights” to the artist so that they have rights to attribution and integrity when it comes to paintings, drawings, and sculpture. Tilted Arc was stored in three sections stacked in a government parking lot in Brooklyn upon removal from the plaza. In 1999 they were moved to a storage space in Maryland. It is Serra’s wish that it will never be displayed anywhere other than its original location, therefore, although the work is safe in storage, it will likely never again be erected. The case exemplifies the U.S. legal systems preference towards property rights over freedom of expression.