Mauling Sprawling Art Installations: Are Outdoor Works Destined for Desecration?

Marko Remec’s 2018 piece Vertebrate Progression (Field Totem), commissioned for the grounds of a Long Island art museum, has already been damaged by visitors sitting on parts of it. One takeaway for custodians of outdoor sculpture in difficult-to-guard public settings may be that such works had better be less fragile. But that’s blaming the victim. – Lee Rosenbaum