Art on Campus
Explore public art on the campus of Washington University in St. Louis
“Public art is an important element of cultural equity in making artworks available and accessible to everyone. Perhaps the most important aspect of encountering one of these works, particularly on a university campus, is that first moment of critical engagement when someone asks, ‘What is this?’ and ‘What is it doing here?’ It is this initial inquiry that can lead to a deeper and even life-long relationship with art, one that a university art museum is well suited to facilitate.” – Leslie Markle, curator for public art at the Kemper Art Museum
Welcome!
Through the Art on Campus program at WashU, the Kemper Art Museum is building a collection of public artworks by nationally and internationally recognized artists. This tour begins in the Florence Steinberg Weil Sculpture Garden and moves across the Danforth Campus to the South 40. Scroll to move through the tour in sequence or click a point on the map to skip directly to that stop. Expand images to take a closer look at the artworks.
1. Dan Graham, Bisected Circle, 2019
1. Dan Graham, Bisected Circle, 2019. Click to expand.
Florence Steinberg Weil Sculpture Garden
2. Ann Hamilton, O N E E V E R Y O N E · St. Louis, 2015
2. Ann Hamilton, O N E E V E R Y O N E · St. Louis, 2015 . Click to expand.
Thomas and Jennifer Hillman Hall
3. Ayşe Erkmen, Places, 2015
3. Ayşe Erkmen, Places, 2015. Click to expand.
Adjacent to Samuel Cupples Hall II
4. Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle, Weather Field No. 2, 2018
4. Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle, Weather Field No. 2, 2018. Click to expand.
Millstone Plaza
5. Spencer Finch, East Meets West, 2014
5. Spencer Finch, East Meets West, 2014. Click to expand.
Karl D. Umrath Hall
6. Jaume Plensa, Ainsa I, 2013
6. Jaume Plensa, Ainsa I, 2013. Click to expand.
Bauer Hall
7. Katharina Grosse, Untitled, 2016
7. Katharina Grosse, Untitled, 2016. Click to expand.
Gary M. Sumers Recreation Center
8. Tom Friedman, Swamp Creature Friends, 2016
8. Tom Friedman, Swamp Creature Friends, 2016. Click to expand.
South 40 Swamp between College Hall and Helen F. Umrath House
1. Dan Graham, Bisected Circle, 2019
Florence Steinberg Weil Sculpture Garden
Walk around and through the artwork to view it from all sides. Look into the curved glass. What do you see?
Bisected Circle by Dan Graham blurs distinctions between architecture and sculpture. The structure allows viewers to see themselves, each other, and their surroundings reflected in the semitransparent walls of the pavilion, extending the artist’s investigation into how our awareness of the world is contingent upon our relation to and interaction with others. Much like a funhouse mirror, the distorted reflections offer the opportunity to alter how we view ourselves and our surroundings.
2. Ann Hamilton, O N E E V E R Y O N E · St. Louis, 2015
Thomas and Jennifer Hillman Hall
Let your eyes wander across the panels. Where do these images appear in focus and where do they fade away?
O N E E V E R Y O N E · St. Louis was developed by Ann Hamilton in collaboration with the Brown School of Social Work. During residencies in spring 2015, Hamilton photographed nearly 300 volunteers from the Brown School community and three partner organizations: US Vets, Better Family Life, and the Community Action Agency of St. Louis County. Hamilton positioned herself and the camera on one side of a semitransparent membrane and used her voice to guide and pose the sitters on the other side. For Hamilton, this collaborative exchange between artist and subject reflects the practice of social work, which aims to foster recognition and empathy. A selection of 33 of these portraits translated into porcelain enamel panels is installed along the curved interior walls of the second and third floors of Hillman Hall, which bracket the Clark Fox Forum and the building’s central gathering area.
What do you think about the title of this project?
3. Ayşe Erkmen, Places, 2015
Adjacent to Samuel Cupples Hall II
What ways can you imagine interacting with these forms?
Places by Ayşe Erkmen consists of nine large-scale concrete forms covered with blue, green, and yellow mosaic tiles. The forms are arranged in a half circle on the lawn outside of Cupples Hall II; each one consists of multiple surfaces that can be used to sit on, sleep on, lean on, read on, or just to look at. The intent is to make, according to the artist, an “aesthetic and functional work” for the site, which experiences significant pedestrian circulation of students, faculty, and visitors to campus. Located at the intersection of two walking paths, these geometric sculptures create a place of social gathering.
How does this artwork blend in with and stand out from its surroundings?
4. Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle, Weather Field No. 2, 2018
Millstone Plaza
Take a moment to be still and notice your surroundings as you look at this artwork. Do you hear the wind rustling or feel the air on your skin?
Weather Field No. 2 by Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle is composed of 49 telescoping stainless steel poles with alternating heights, each supporting a weather vane and anemometer. The tight alignment of the poles in a grid alters the weather instruments’ standard function of measuring wind direction and speed, as their proximity generates a microclimate of turbulence and vortices caused by individual instruments reacting to one another. Weather Field No. 2 may be seen as a metaphor for the ways in which we react to our environments and the subtle effects we have on each other.
Image how this kinetic artwork would react in different environments such as the beach, the mountains, or the desert.
5. Spencer Finch, East Meets West, 2014
Karl D. Umrath Hall
View artworks from the second floor landings of the stairways accessible from the building’s central arch. What similarities and differences do you notice between the installations?
For East Meets West , Spencer Finch traveled to the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, where he used a colorimeter––a device that measures the average color and temperature of light that exists naturally in a specific place and time––to calculate the color of the light on the oceans. He also made watercolors based on his personal observations of the colors and shapes of waves. The resulting light boxes, individually titled Atlantic and Pacific, produce an aesthetic experience of the fleeting, temporal nature of the observed world. The work is positioned so that the viewer faces in the direction of the respective ocean while looking at each image. Installed in Umrath Hall, home to a variety of interdisciplinary humanities programs, East Meets West evokes the efforts of the humanities and scientific inquiry to comprehend the outside world.
6. Jaume Plensa, Ainsa I, 2013
Bauer Hall
Move around this sculpture to view it from all sides. Do you recognize any letters or words?
Ainsa I by Jaume Plensa is located outside the south entrance to the atrium of Bauer Hall. Composed of a filigree of stainless steel characters from nine different languages, the large-scale seated human figure embodies the diversity of Olin Business School and the University at large. The indistinct and faceless form of the figure also invites open-ended identification on the part of the viewer, while the symbols from various writing systems spur moments of recognition and discovery. Ainsa I transforms the experience of its site, both offering a transition between human and architectural scales and calling attention to the communal nature of the building plaza.
How does the scale of this work shape your encounter with it?
7. Katharina Grosse, Untitled, 2016
Gary M. Sumers Recreation Center
What feeling does this work convey to you? Does getting up close or looking from a distance change your impression?
Katharina Grosse fuses painting and architecture in this dramatic installation covering the Sumers Recreation Center’s interior entrance wall. The painting transgresses the architectural boundaries of the space, moving diagonally over multiple surfaces and onto adjoining walls. Densely layered primary and secondary colors, drips, and large areas of overspray reveal the gestural marks of the artist’s spray-gun process and convey a sense of dynamic movement. Situated within the University’s Athletic Complex, this work’s vibrant and active presence generates an immersive experience that may intensify awareness of both the environment and one’s own body while passing through the multistoried space.
8. Tom Friedman, Swamp Creature Friends, 2016
South 40 Swamp between College Hall and Helen F. Umrath House
What associations does this artwork bring to mind?
This sculpture is a commission by Washington University alumnus Tom Friedman. The artwork’s title alludes to the 1954 horror film Creature from the Black Lagoon while simultaneously paying homage to the historical nickname of the grassy field where it is located. Swamp Creature Friends combines the artist’s interest in networked systems with his exploration of the human figure, which stems in part from his history of self-portraiture dating back to the early 1990s when he began making abstract figurative sculptures of himself using materials such as Styrofoam, wood, and even sugar cubes. The interwoven nature of Swamp Creature Friends combined with its proximity to residence halls can be seen as a metaphor for the network of social relationships that are part of the college experience.
Snap a selfie or gather for a group picture with Swamp Creature Friends! Share your photo on social media and tag us @washukemperartmuseum .
Thank you!
Thank you for exploring Art on Campus. Public art invites us to tune in to our surroundings, heightening awareness of how we think, feel, and act in the spaces we move through. These artworks engage our relationships to our environment and each other, provide spaces for social gathering, and invite moments of quiet contemplation. To keep exploring, visit the Museum website and check out more of our learning resources .
We are committed to encounters with art that inspire creative engagement, social and intellectual inquiry, and meaningful connections across disciplines, cultures, and histories. Do you have ideas or suggestions for other virtual tours? Is there an artist or topic that you would like to learn more about? We would love to hear your feedback. Please direct comments or questions to the Education Department, kempereducation@wustl.edu .
About Art on Campus
Established in 2010, Art on Campus is administered by the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts through the Kemper Art Museum. It is funded by a Washington University policy that sets aside one percent of eligible capital projects and renovations on the Danforth Campus for the purchase and commission of public art. A campus-wide committee guides the program and is charged with identifying locations, selecting artists, and approving proposals. The Kemper Art Museum’s Director and Chief Curator and the University Architect cochair the committee to ensure that the University’s short- and long-term plans for capital projects are incorporated into the planning for art installations and that artworks meet museum standards for aesthetic distinction and historical significance.