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‘Like’ Your Favorite Sculpture Proposal

Below are the six finalists for a sculpture to be placed in Jackson Court, near the Sage Arts Center on River Campus. The University community and the public are encouraged to 'like' one or more of their top choices. The page will be live through the end of 2013; votes will be collected via this page through November 23.

Details on the selection process are here.

#1: S. Gokman

  • Gokman rendering 1
  • Gokman rendering 2
  • Gokman past work - colored materials near a ceilingexample of previous installation

“Calyx” celebrates technology, nature and knowledge; -it is influenced by vascular systems found in nature that not only control the development but also carry nourishment. The form is generated by using computer software that can create self-organizing and structurally sound forms.  CALYX will be constructed out of light-weight aluminum sheets extracted through CNC milling, mechanically folded and then welded together. Using this form as a landmark, the sculpture intends to create awareness for the quality of the achievements and the ongoing efforts that is taking place on campus.


#2: L. Linden

  • Failure is Impossible in neon on dorm building
  • Failure is Impossible in neon on dorm building
  • other neon signs

CLOCK is neon sign reading “FAILURE IS IMPOSSIBLE,” with sections of the sentence lighting up at 20-minute intervals. The sculpture will be placed on the Sage Art Centerʼs lower roof. “Failure is impossible,” is one of the most iconic quotations from the womenʼs suffrage movement, by one Rochesterʼs most iconic citizens. Susan B. Anthonyʼs sentence will be written in the same typeface as used in the neon “KODAK” sign on top of Rochesterʼs Kodak Tower. The work is intended to be multifaceted andopen; alternately uplifting, inspiring, needling, testing, looming and exhorting, it is intended to serve as a reminder that political, economic, and cultural gains are shifting and ultimately temporal.


#3: A. May

  • blocky tree shapes
  • blocky tree shapes
  • blocky tree shapesexamples of previous installations

This sculptural installation engages rhizomatic points of entry and departure into dialogues concerning Nature/Technology, Degradation/Preservation, Obsoletion/Sustainability and the Real/Artificial. It’s materials that will be found or otherwise seized from commercial processes - not directly cut down for the installation. Species like Sugar Maple, Oak, Horse Chestnut, Black Walnut, Beech, and Ash - similar to those found in the forest that saved Rochester from the British in the War of 1812 will be used. The installation will be built with highest structural integrity including a tested true steel rod/wood dowel adhesive system and planted into concrete bases indicated by drawing corollary to submission. The trees will be installed as if naturally growing in place. As the modules/pixels of material break away from the natural form they begin to breach together to create overarching walkways between various specie types.


#4: G. Orlinsky

  • sculptures like barbed wire
  • tower with wire shapes running through top
  • tower with wire shapes running through topexample of previous installation

“Flow” will consist of a series of elevated aluminum and steel structures; brightly colored aluminum rods of varying lengths and thicknesses will pass through three hoops approximately 3’ in diameter and 8” wide making the work span over 150 feet.  Because of the work’s proximity to the Genesee River, this sculpture mimics its gentle flow as it winds through the University of Rochester’s River Campus. Units will be sited to meander across the walkways and read as one long continuous ribbon. “Flow” resembles a burst of computer or telephone wires breaking into a wireless age and references the current of information that is the vital in the sciences and humanities. It is the exchange or flow of ideas that is at the core of learning.


#5: M. Schmitz

  • white pod near dorm
  • white pod near dormexample of previous installation
  • red and blue funnel shape on a beachexample of previous installation

This work centers on finding and interpreting unclaimed or contested public space(s), and on reading the importance of the spatial relationship to both personal and shared-cultural memory.  A collective view presents an intriguing form; entered, the individual viewer perceives only the funnel and the sky. The perspective of 360° is representing the possibility of openness and creativity and universality of the human mind. The sculpture is a transformer of self-navigation in public places.


#6: M. Struzik

  • wavy metallic vertical blocks
  • wavy metallic vertical blocks by dorm
  • other sculpturesexamples of previous installations

This work alludes to the body and language; forms that attempt adaptation in relation to each other. The Composition is made out of two forms, made out of Corten steel approximately 10’ in height whose sides, facing each other, would be polished to a reflective surface. At night composition could be illuminated, by placing the light source between two elements to employ its reflective sides. The specific “interior” of the composition would become in a way active and it’s look would change, according to the viewer’s changing position.