Durham City Council to accept Plenas sculpture

DURHAM -- Despite some misgivings about a reference to murder on a work of downtown public art, the Durham City Council voted unanimously Thursday to accept a donated sculpture for the new Performing Arts Center plaza.

The sculpture, by Spanish artist Jaume Plensa, consists of a shaft of blue light projected skyward from a ground-level disc bearing a quotation from William Shakespeare’s play “Macbeth.”

Arts Center architect Philip Szostak called the sculpture “a light bridge [between] heaven and earth.”

Capital Broadcasting Co. is donating the sculpture. Under the agreement approved Thursday, the city will maintain it for 25 years, while the Performing Arts Center’s management pays the light bill.

Szostak and assistant city manager Alan DeLisle presented the project at the council’s work session, requesting an immediate vote to accept the donation so that the sculpture can be installed in time for the center’s planned Dec. 1 opening.

After the council vote, Szostak said the sculpture, titled “Bridge to the Sky,” is under construction in Spain. He expects it to be shipped to Durham by the end of this month.

Durham’s planned sculpture is similar to several other Plensa works in cities including London, Paris and Jerusalem.

Capital Broadcasting CEO Jim Goodmon offered a Plensa work for Raleigh’s Fayetteville Street mall, but Raleigh authorities declined the gift claiming it was impractical and would block the mall’ vista.

Council members mentioned several frets about the Durham sculpture, particularly the “Macbeth” quotation:”

“Macbeth — I heard a voice cry, Sleep no more! “Lady — What do you mean? “Macbeth — Still it cried sleep no more to all the house; Glamis hath murdered sleep, and therefore Cawdor shall sleep no more, Macbeth shall sleep no more.”

The metal disc bearing the quotation has already been cast, Szostak said.

“I am concerned with using city space to talk about guilt associated with murder,” council member Mike Woodard said. He asked Szostak whether the words could be changed.

Szostak said that would take “a very powerful grinder,” and said the quotation had been reviewed by a public art task force from the city’s cultural master plan advisory board.

Josh Parker, chairman of that board, said Plensa had suggested the quotation as appropriate for a theater, and that his committee did not feel it to be problematic.

Other issues mentioned before the vote included the light’s effects on migratory birds and its contribution to light pollution.

Szostak said he had conferred with bird authorities and found that blue light does not affect avian navigation. Regarding light pollution, he said, “Comparing this piece of art to light pollution is like comparing Mozart to noise.”

Plans are to have the sculpture lit during events at the Performing Arts Center and other major events downtown such as the Light Up Durham festivals in December. It is estimated to cost 69 cents per hour to operate; maintenance cost to the city is estimated at about $4,500 per year over the agreement’s 25-year span.

The city would also cover the costs of liability insurance. A fence around the sunken light fixture, to prevent pedestrian falls and eye damage from looking into the light, has been incorporated into the design.