I need your help! Who could I contact at the city to purchase the Arc of History? I would like to put it in my front yard, as it will compliment my home quite nicely. I am actually serious. I just need it at a good price. I wouldn’t be surprised if the city scraps it. – Fan
Under normal circumstances, the city disposes of surplus stuff in one of several ways.
There’s the garage sale approach. The city of Durango ditches its detritus via online auction services at PublicSurplus.com or GovDeals.com.
Action Line checked both sites, and there were no local listings as of Saturday.
However, in Aztec, N.M., you could score a used bathroom fan, a broken washing machine or worn-out picnic tables for a buck each. Such a deal!
The city of Durango can also de-clutter by “competitive bid, trade-in or donation,” according to its website.
Then there’s the “white elephant” strategy, in which the city “transfers” the item to another government agency.
So now we know where heavy, slightly rusted green filing cabinets come from.
In any case, if the Arc of History were merely municipal property, its sale or disposal would be fairly easy.
But the Arc is art. That makes things about as clear as the Animas River after the Gold King Mine spill.
Though the city purchased the Arc of History, the artist retains some rights as outlined in a law called the Visual Artists Rights Acts or VARA.
Ironically, that law was prompted by a sculpture also named “Arc.”
The Government Services Administration commissioned “Tilted Arc” in 1979 for a federal plaza in Manhattan. It was a curved, rusting steel wall 120 feet long and 12 feet tall that bisected the plaza.
The piece immediately gained admirers as well as a host of irate critics, particularly those who had to circumnavigate the wall daily at work.
In 1985, a public hearing was held, with one federal worker famously fuming, “This (wall sculpture) goes beyond the realm of stupidity. This goes into even worse than insanity.”
A panel voted 4-1 to remove the Arc without the artist’s permission.
The artist, Richard Serra, and his supporters were furious. Appeals and litigation ensued, but four years later the wall was dismantled and put into storage.
Art supporters and freedom advocates were horrified. As a result, the Visual Artists Rights Act was passed in 1990.
In a nutshell, VARA grants artists “moral rights. ”
Those two words will drive some folks absolutely nuts. Calm down. Someone might mistake you for a performance artist.
As a Harvard Law School primer points out, moral right “is a translation of the French term ‘droit moral,’ and refers not to ‘morals’ as advocated by the religious right, but rather to the ability of authors to control the eventual fate of their works.”
Prior to VARA’s passage in 1990, artists had little power to protect their works.
A notable exception involved the comedy troupe Monty Python.
The BBC licensed some shows to the ABC network, which promptly butchered the program to create advertising slots but also to edit out some of the naughty parts. Monty Python sued and won.
Leave it to absurdist British comedians to defend artistic integrity in America.
In any case, call Sherri Dugdale, assistant to the city manager, at 375-5002 to start the dialogue about an offer.
Action Line visited City Hall to state your case, but the VARA law makes things VARA complicated.
Email questions to actionline@durangoherald.com or mail them to Action Line, The Durango Herald, 1275 Main Ave., Durango, CO 81301. You can request anonymity if you stop treating public art as a Demolition Derby contestant.
