Digital DNA sculpture’s run in Palo Alto ends after 13 years
A 7-foot-tall, egg-shaped sculpture that stood in Palo Alto’s Lytton Plaza the past 13 years is being taken to a new home more than 3,000 miles away.
Workers last week wrapped the deteriorated Digital DNA sculpture in protective material and stuffed it inside a crate for shipping to the New York City art studio of Adriana Varella, where it’ll be restored. A pole that had anchored the piece was the only part left behind.
Varella said in an interview she hopes to see the Digital DNA sculpture she crafted with fellow artist Nilton Maltz installed this summer in a public setting at Harvard University.
“I’m really pained it is leaving, because it was created for the people, for the Palo Alto community,” she said.
Varella said the city’s Public Arts Commission decided to remove Digital DNA last November without properly taking into account the public’s perspective.
The commission cited structural design flaws exacerbated by the work being housed outdoors when it voted to remove the sculpture, installed in 2005. The commission couldn’t identify a suitable indoor location for it.
A consultant the commission hired in 2015 found the sculpture’s fiberglass base was damaged and might be structurally unstable; it also noted that the work’s UV protective coatings had peeled off and circuit boards used in the work were either broken or in danger of breaking.
And even if it did make an estimated $45,000 in repairs, the commission determined that “the artwork may very well be in a similar state of deterioration in another five years if it remained” at Lytton Plaza, according to a staff report.
A group called Friends of Lytton Plaza has called for the sculpture’s removal at commission meetings, saying it isn’t suited for the outdoors.
The city initially gave Varella 90 days to remove the sculpture from the plaza before it either searches for a buyer or destroys the work, but it extended the deadline long enough for her to find a buyer.
A Silicon Valley entrepreneur and art collector who wishes to remain anonymous purchased the sculpture for an undisclosed price, according to Friends of Digital DNA, a small group of supporters.
After it’s repaired, Varella said the sculpture will be donated to Harvard’s museums collection and housed in a public square at its business school.
Varella holds out hope that she will one day be able to bring her sculpture back to Palo Alto, where she said it belongs.
The art collector “understands that this piece must be for many people. … This person really respects my work,” Varella said. According to Varella, the sculpture’s message is that modern technology leads to positive advancements but can also enslave us and bolster warfare.