Stop and Smell the Big Metal Wall

In the 1980’s, Richard Serra built the “Tilted Arc” in front of the Jacob K. Javits Federal Building in lower Manhattan, New York City. This piece of artwork was, to simply put it, a hunk of steel. However, the creative backstory to the idea was much more intricate. Serra had the intention of creating an intersection between art and public space, with which he succeeded. He wanted to disrupt people’s chronic daily routines and force them out of their repetitive movements, to challenge them, and bring more thought and mindfulness into peoples patterns.

Serra’s intentions worked, but weren’t perceived in a positive light. The people who’s daily paths were disrupted were angry, irritated, and unimpressed. Instead of viewing the structure as an opportunity to break their nine-to-five schedules throughout which they move robotically, the people voted to take it down and continue on as they were. We have become a society of people who feel burdened when having to interact with strangers, who would rather drive a couple blocks than simply walk, and who would rather take a photo of something than actually admire it and create an experience. We have become lazy.

We are all familiar with the idiom “stop and smell the roses”, right? The saying is meant to urge people to slow down, free themselves and their minds for a moment, live in the present, or at least acknowledge it. I detourned the famous saying by replacing the part about the roses with a reference to Serra’s Tilted Arc. I wanted to bring modernity to the saying, while still having the same intentions. We could all benefit from stopping to admire the ideas behind art pieces that we might find obnoxious because the irritants are typically rooted from our own personal problems.