Save Digital DNA, site specific public art project - Palo Alto , CA

PETITION

We, the undersigned, request that the City of Palo Alto keep its iconic sculpture Digital DNA in its currently location and properly maintain it.
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Background:

Installed in 2005, Digital DNA is very arguably the most popular and culturally significant work of public art the City has ever commissioned.

Digital DNA is so popular in part because it is visually engaging and in part because it poses challenging questions about what it means to live and work the Silicon Valley where every day companies produce new technologies and make decisions that profoundly change both it and every other society on the globe.

Based on social media metrics, Digital DNA is arguably the only public artwork commissioned by the City that has truly resonated with Palo Alto citizens and visitors alike. Visitors from all over the world make a point to visit Digital DNA as part of their exploration of Silicon Valley. Can the same be said of any other public artwork in Palo Alto? As Palo Alto's experience demonstrates, it is very challenging to commission public artwork that makes a significant impression. When the City does succeed in commissioning an artwork that has significant popular and cultural impact, as it has with Digital DNA, it seems self-evident that the City's Public Arts staff should concentrate its efforts and resources on properly maintaining such work. Otherwise, the City will find itself expending significant financial resources to maintain a collection of public artwork that few care very much about.

It is clear that the City can properly maintain Digital DNA. In 2015, the Public Arts staff hired ARG Conservation Services, a leading San Francisco arts conservator, to provide guidance on maintaining its outdoor public art. ARG advised the City that if a "water based coating is applied annually and the artwork inspected regularly, it will be acceptable to keep [Digital DNA] in its current location." After it had expended taxpayer funds to obtain it, the City's Public Arts staff then proceeded to omit ARG's assessment from it Deaccession Request for Digital DNA even though the City's new Deaccession Policy requires it to include the opinion of a "qualified visual arts conservator."


The City's Public Arts staff should maintain Digital DNA in accordance with standard practices for maintaining outdoor plastic sculptures. It is well understood by experienced arts conservators and caretakers that outdoor plastic sculptures may be maintained for very long periods if proper maintenance procedures are followed. Experienced arts caretakers such as the Getty Museum have routinely maintained outdoor plastic sculptures in excellent condition for many decades. There is no excuse for the City not to maintain Digital DNA using these same procedures. The cost of maintaining Digital DNA through annual maintenance (which, it appears, the City has failed to provide regularly) and periodic restoration as needed is several thousand dollars per year, a very small fraction of the City's Public Arts budget.



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