On the 28th floor of the Seattle Municipal Tower—where about
100 employees help customers with overdue bills and run the mail room
for Seattle City Light—there’s a row of five TV screens, each one
turned vertically, hanging on the elevator lobby wall. They’re silent
and dark: turned off. They’ve been blank since March, when the fight
over them escalated past the point of tolerance, city curator Deborah
Paine says.
Here’s what happened: The city’s One Percent for Art program
commissioned seven works for the seven lobbies of City Light’s offices.
One of the artists was Pittsburgh-based Kerry Skarbakka, and he created
a 50-minute video epic that depicted him immersed in each of the
elements—earth, water, fire, and air. It was called The
Elements of Attraction. In it, wearing a pinstriped business suit
and a hidden oxygen tank, Skarbakka swims through murky blue-green
water, past eerily swaying trees. He taped that part in an overflooded
lake in Arkansas. In another segment, footage of him leaping through a
flame has been slowed down: What you see in the video is his body
gradually emerging from a blazing fire three times from various angles,
then him exiting stage left. In each part, the artist is calm and
seemingly at peace, which contrasts with the extreme environments.
The other segments of the video, involving sand dunes and a hot-air
balloon (called the Emerald Shazzam), presented no problem to
any workers on the 28th floor. But a protest began when one City Light
employee said walking past the art, and looking at it while waiting for
the elevator, brought back past memories of a house fire. Another said
the art triggered painful thoughts about a relative who had drowned.
The workers had seen the art as it was being installed—and at the
opening on December 16, 2008, a few of them approached the artist. He
had been warned, and he explained that there was no death and no pain
in the video, and that he intended it to be “cool and fun, colorful and
intense,” he now says, in a phone interview.
But the complaints did not stop. Over the course of three months,
Paine and City Light bosses held several meetings with the workers to
talk about the art, but it only made the grievances more entrenched,
Paine says. The two employees who originally protested gained sympathy
from coworkers; a knot of 10 or 15 employees, depending on the day,
became involved, according to Paine. Other workers testified to
enjoying the piece, she says. (City Light denied a request to interview
the employees.) Formal complaints were filed: The protesters wanted the
art to move, but if it didn’t, then they were asking for their work
areas to be moved instead.
Frustrated by the entrenchment, Paine offered to recommission the
artist to make something new. (The piece is part of the Portable Works
collection and could be moved to another floor, but Paine calculates
that would cost about as much as a new commission
because of its
technical complexity—and who knows what reactions it would
provoke there.) The piece was having technical difficulties anyway, so
she turned it off. Paine had $25,000 left in the budget for the lobby
artworks, and Skarbakka accepted the new $25,000 commission. (His first
commission was $40,000.) “I’m not a therapist, I was just making
artwork that I thought was pretty cool,” Skarbakka says. “I really
thought everybody was going to like it, and it didn’t turn out to be as
well-received. I think maybe the imagery was bringing back some bad
emotions, so I agreed that I would modify segments of the video to take
that edge off. I’m going to modify it to the point that I’m removing
the bodily element from what’s going on. It seems to be that that’s
where the problem lies, is these figures underwater or moving through
fiery space, I think. I’m not sure—I have no real idea—but
all I’m trying to do is replace portions that may cause issue. I
actually don’t know all of what may be the problem with it. So in my
mind, I’m just trying to produce something as good as before for them
and in a different way. I’m still editing. I’m just trying to be
sensitive. It’s their workplace, not mine… And I’m still one poor
guy. I’m glad to have the new commission in this economy.”
“It was kind of a win-win,” Paine says. The employees are
happy—or will be, given that they approve of the new segments.
The artist got a steady paycheck and a trip to Honduras and Guatemala
to shoot more colorful underwater footage. And the city is bringing its
projects in on budget.
But questions still hang in the dead air around the blank video
screens on the 28th floor: What kind of precedent does this set? And
does public art necessarily have to be neutered—have to “take
that edge off”—to exist?
“That was a powerful piece, and that’s what you look for—it’s
just you can’t leave some of that stuff hanging around,” says longtime
Seattle public artist Jack Mackie. “It’s hard. It’s hard to figure out
what gets to go in public and what doesn’t.”
Curator Beth Sellars, who runs the downtown installation lab Suyama
Space, used to have Paine’s job and says she’s sympathetic to Paine’s
position. But Sellars says she handled similar situations differently.
After 9/11, when Municipal Tower workers complained that a
five-by-seven-foot Gaylen Hansen painting of a crow pressed in upon by
a crush of red grasshoppers reminded them too much of terrorism,
Sellars refused to remove the painting. In fact, when it was time for
the painting to rotate, she sent it to an even more prominent location
in the Regional Justice Center. Sometimes the art is resonating because
it’s hitting a nerve, she says, but sometimes people are just looking
for something to pin unrelated annoyances on. “You could ask the person
at City Light, ‘Do you avoid driving by the Sound? Do you not take a
bath?’ It’s just easier to take it out on the art,” Sellars says.
“To do another one, I think that’s kind of pandering,” she says. “I
know how it is, and I think Deborah’s done a really good job, but there
are a lot of people on that floor. Ten people complaining? You hate to
have those people dictating what’s going to happen. It’s a real bad
precedent to set, and it’s a lot of money to keep moving something
without the assurance that you’re not going to have 10 bitchy people
again.”
Paine admits that, in her view, the video was not the problem: “It
wasn’t anything like what [the protesters] perceived it to be, but once
an idea gets in somebody’s head, they kind of go with it.” She says the
decision was partly
undertaken to avoid bad publicity for the
public art program at City Light, which was already weakened by a 2004
lawsuit that limited how the agency’s art money can be spent.
Norie Sato, who has been making public art in Seattle since the
1970s, says people have particularly strong feelings about public art
because they can’t control other aspects of their built
environment: whether a Wal-Mart moves in next door, for instance.
Paine, who managed Microsoft’s collection for a decade before coming to
the City of Seattle, experienced this firsthand. One disgruntled
Microsoft employee decided he hated a Chuck Close portrait of Philip
Glass so much that he or she took it down and sent Paine a ransom
note—eventually she discovered the art hidden behind a fire-wall
door. She left that area of the office art-free after that. “It was
grand larceny!” she says. “There’s crazy people out there. Sometimes
they’re just having a bad day and they like the art the next day. If
you can’t complain about anything else, you can complain about the
art.”
Even after Skarbakka completes the new commission—he hopes to
finish it this summer—the city will still own the original work
by the artist. In a way, it joins the ranks of other works that city
employees skip over when they’re picking the art for their offices from
the already existing collection. That art is like a problem shelter
animal: Nobody wants it. “No one chooses them because they’re deemed
violent or weird, or they have to do with nudity or dancing skeletons
or something,” Paine says. So her office on the 17th floor takes in
those cases. To see an exhibition of public art rejects, take the
elevator up to 17. 
Good lord. Shit likes this just pains me to even identify myself as a City Employee.
This is just ridiculous.
Note — management at City Light has never been known to have any stones in their pants….
Good lord. Shit likes this just pains me to even identify myself as a City Employee.
This is just ridiculous.
Note — management at City Light has never been known to have any stones in their pants….
SERIOUSLY — WTF is wrong with people? People complain about art that’s not even offensive? Whatever you bring to the table and project on the art is YOUR problem. I understand that trauma brings about irrational/emotional reactions (and I’m even sympathetic to that on some level). But the idea that the world has to change so you can live more comfortably within it is unhealthy. I’ll bet these are the same folks who don’t bat an eye while watching re-runs of fires or drownings on CSI (or whatever the popular crime-drama of the day might be).
How can we work to create a new model that allows public art to exist but not be subject to the constant whims of a vocal minority? I feel sorry for the daily grind folks like Deborah Paine must face.
Strange days for art…even non-politic art has become political.
I feel like I can see the writing on the wall here… he’s going to go away and make something else that still involves the element of fire, and the person who complained is going to whine, “But you didn’t take the fire out of it.” Sellars is right with her point that there’s no “assurance that you’re not going to have 10 bitchy people again”.
I don’t know… to me, it sounds like a few people with jobs they hate are throwing a tantrum in order to assert some control over their lives (and the lives of others). I hope they’re satisfied with their empty power.
Your public servants — we have a real crackerjack bunch of city employees for sure! If you really want to get a laugh, watch the coverage of council committee meetings and see the yahoos who come to present from the different departments…
Back on topic — what, thy couldn’t find a local artist to do something to at least keep the money in the local economy???
I work in the city building with this piece (one floor above); it was interesting as were many of the lobby pieces. But my main complaint about this piece, and most of the pieces in the lobbies of our floors (28, 29, 30, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36) is the lack of connection with the workers who spend so much of our lives here.
I would like it if the artists put themselves in our shoes. Come out and meet us before designing the work (not just meet with management and the art office staff.) We work in a drab, brown/grey environment. We are put under a lot of pressure–do more with less. Our management lives high on the hog while most city employees can’t afford to live in Seattle. We are proud of public power and City Light’s history but not how the Mayor and Council mismanage it. So every day you wait in the lobby for the elevator feeling frustrated, worried, angry, nervous, cranky. Sometimes we are excited, happy (it’s Friday mostly), laughing (we like to make fun of management), and satisfied (we actually helped our customers or made the utility a better place to work).
Reflect that reality in the art and I think employees would be more appreciative.
I went to the floor to specifically spend time with Kerry’s piece right after the opening. I witnessed a handful of people (mostly women, either obese or borderline) walking out of the offices. They asked me and each other “WhAt Is tHis? I DoNt GET iT? WhatS goInG on? Excuse me sir, do you know what this is or what this means?!?!” I calmly responded “its Art.” These people had NO clue and NO desire to engage. It was something new that slightly irritated them and turned into something big. This story is so fucking lame and Im sorry the talented Deborah Paine had to spend her valuable time listening to retards bitch about something they had to look at for a maximum of 4 minutes of their day. I thought the piece was beautiful, tender and amazing…
I agree with No.6– this is the workers home not an art gallery. Different rules apply. From some of the remarks it is
clear there is disdain for office workers and some workers get this vibe and may see the artwork as a reflection of that general disdain. Some office workers fought back and apparently won this particular battle–good for them. The artist also got some publicity so everyone wins.
I agree with No.6– this is the workers home not an art gallery. Different rules apply. From some of the remarks it is
clear there is disdain for office workers and some workers get this vibe and may see the artwork as a reflection of that general disdain. Some office workers fought back and apparently won this particular battle–good for them. The artist also got some publicity so everyone wins.
@8/9. I do agree with you up to a point, that because it’s an office space, not a gallery, there are limits as to what is appropriate to display. I mean, I would certainly be defending the employees if the art in question was a painting of the Virgin Mary done with poop. But, this piece of art seems just as innocuous to me as a painting of happy little trees. The four elements? What is offensive about that? To me, it’s as if they are saying “I don’t like green, so please take this piece of art (that you paid a lot of money for) down.”
BTW, I have had office jobs for my entire adult life, so I am not disdainful of office workers. I am disdainful of people who use ridiculous, illogical, petty complaints to try to make themselves feel more important.
@dj007 and darbar: This is not the workers’ “home.” It’s a public facility and thus a candidate for public art, i.e. a public gallery. This story upsets me on so many levels. It’s frustrating that people are so intolerant of art, imagination and challenging ideas. It’s infuriating that these workers and apparently their supporters here believe the daily frustrations of an office worker should inform a commissioned artist or dictate what kind of art is displayed in the PUBLIC entrance to their office (this piece was not in employees’ cubicles and the intended audience is anyone who enters that office, not just staff …). It’s frustrating that the city caved into these people. It’s frustrating that this artist must no compromise his vision to appease what sounds like a tiny set of angry people so he can put food on his table. It’s frustrating that this will probably set some precedent and soon we’ll have angry employees in other offices demanding their art be taken down or changed. For god’s sake, folks, get a grip and realize art is not always made to please the eye or sooth the soul, but also to challenge the mind and make one …. think.
Wondering why no one has pointed out that this piece is nothing more than a Bill Viola retread… (ok, Bill meets Robert Longo) LOL
Mr. Bradley, you are so right!
BTW- I’m a big fan of your work. Any chance you will be showing in Seattle any time soon?
Does it strike anyone else as a little odd that at the help desk where people need assistance paying electrical bills the city decides to have an art installation that requires 5 continually plugged in tv monitors–whatever. I swear to god I think they just do shit to piss people off.
It’s a workplace. Why should the people who work there get any say in what they have to stare at on the walls every day?
A few years ago, I worked in an office that had rotating artwork displays in the lobby. One month, a GIANT PLYWOOD PENIS appeared. It was 8 feet tall. It was plywood. It was shaped like a penis. It made everyone very uncomfortable. One morning, before some important clients were set to arrive, a co-worker and I carried the damn thing away and hid it. Some weeks later, the artist & curator were furious to find that the piece had been tampered with. In a way I felt bad, but it was a GIANT PLYWOOD PENIS. What did they expect, putting that thing next to the reception desk?
I don’t think my story has much in common with the video display in this article – but I’m pretty sympathetic to anyone who is annoyed by a piece of artwork in their office. It’s like someone cranking up their stereo in another cubicle and forcing you to listen to their music. It might be perfectly nice music, but it can still just get on your damn nerves.
@MadDog: what is up with the random fatphobia in your comment?
like a person’s size has *anything* to do with his/her relationship to art.
or his/her gender for that matter.
Obviously, if a person is fat – especially if it’s a fat WOMAN – her opinion of shitty subsidized art, made soley for the peer approval of other shitty subsidized artists, is not important.
The workers are there soley to provide the money to fund the art project. They’re too stupid to comment on it.
I’m a bit surprised by the employees’ negative reaction: who doesn’t enjoy watching a bit of television during the workday? Must be the programing is subpar. After all TV is TV and just because a commitee calls it “art” means nothing – it’s still just TV. Perhaps instead of replaying Kerry Skarbakka’s loops of narcissistic mental masturbation the powers that be should start playing some first rate porn loops, or those cool aquarium or fireplace videos, or motivational “be happy in your work” videos, or continual PSAs, or maybe some nice family fair. Animal Planet anyone?
darbar, are you fucking kidding? You need to relate to the art? how can art be made to meet everyone’s taste and experience? And how did this become about you and your dissatisfaction in your job?
The people that complained need therapy to deal with their issues/ptsd. They definitely don’t need to be controlling public art. They work for the public, they work in an area that serves the public.
The piece sounds amazing.
This is so familiar. As a freelance artist in the 80’s and 90’s I had a juried display in a Group Health Mental Health/counciling center. My work was not controversial, yet slightly surrealistic with maybe one or two partially clad figures, in what people would say was in “good taste”.Certainly not nearly as stark as classical european statues and paintings that profusely populate countries like Italy.
As soon as I had them up, I was notified that I had to take about 3/4 of the show down. Some were deemed a little apocalyptical or too blue. Noted, none of the complaints were from patients, but from staff. Maybe art and work environments, which bring out the worst in whiners, don’t mix.