Wendell Castle railed (D&C, Apr. 23, 2008) about Midtown Plaza’s “Clock of Nations” occupying center stage at the Monroe County Airport during the next few years before it presumably finds a permanent home at the Gallisano Children’s Hospital at Strong. In his tirade, Castle calls the hometown artifact “kitschy junk,” unfortunate choices of words but understandable from Mr. Castle’s point of view. His own clock, after all, the very one that won a stiff art competition to occupy that space and for which the airlines and taxpayers paid $150,000, has been crated up and put into storage. Nobody seems exactly sure how long his piece will remain in its closet or why one large clock (his) is at risk during airport reconstruction but another (Midtown’s) can fit in so amicably.
Let me weigh in on the Clock of Nations. There are a few objects that define an era and the CofN is as 1960’s as Mary Quant black eyeliner, white go-go boots, and shag carpeting. It has it all – the same rounded edges that echoes the “house of the future,” the skinny stem of a Saariean table, the pure white of an egg chair. Regardless of whatever other sentimental images Rochestarians carry around in their heads, the CofN encapsulates a time and place in history.
Having established that the CofN has some value, the questions facing the community are what is to become of this iconic piece and who gets to decide? They are the very same questions that should be foremost in discussion surrounding Wendell’s clock for the very same reasons. First, these are pieces of sculpture that we tax payers actually bought and therefore, own. We don’t know their present worth. We don’t know their condition. If there is an orderly way for these decisions to be made (i.e. a Public Art Director or Public Art Commission), we don’t know about it. How is that committee formed and who serves?
The glaring fact is that the airport manager cannot make an arbitrary decision about placing art and displacing art that was purchased and placed by a duly appointed public committee formed for that purpose any more than the City can decide to give the Clock of Nations to a private hospital (even though ultimately, that may be the best place for it.)
Artwork needs moving sometimes. But our decision making process is seriously flawed and should not be left, helter skelter, to anybody who happens to come to work that day.
Shirley Dawson
6 Saddle Ridge Trail, Fairport, NY 14450
425--1639
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I wrote this and sent it to the D&C. They no longer seem to print anything I submit to them!
Since writing the piece, however, I learned that the airport management conducted an on site survey to the flying public asking how they felt about art in the airport, what kind of art, etc. Hmmmm....ammunition for what purpose one must ask?
Also someone suggested to me that the clock is NOT likely to ever go to Strong Hospital but perhaps Strong Museum would be its final home. See? These decisions are never simple ones.
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