As part of ART H 446: Topics in African Art (Spring 2014), I was assigned to write a proposal for an innovative art exhibition featuring artist El Anatsui, which would take place on Penn State's campus.

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Destruction and Growth: The Work of El Anatsui!
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A Proposal for the Consideration of the "
Alfred Richardson Thompson Family Foundation Search Committee"
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Kaitlyn Zurcher"
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Art History 446"
Professor Foss"
February 18, 2014"
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“That was my own way of affirming something positive:
destruction as a prerequisite for new ideas and for new growth.”!
- El Anatsui !1
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" The Penn State community is no stranger to the concept of “destruction as a prerequisite
for growth.” In the past few years, the university has received more negative attention than any
other school in the country. The entire “Penn State culture” was criticized, beaten down, and
forced to re-evaluate itself. From this destruction, however, emerged awareness, change, and
hope for the future. As the community moves forward, we need a presence on campus that
actively acknowledges the hardships of the collective human experience while building up hope
for overcoming adversity and advocating change. There’s no better way to express this message
than to showcase a revolutionary exhibition of the works of El Anatsui."
" A Ghanaian artist working out of Nigeria, El Anatsui has been creating some of the most
innovative, monumental art of our time. Primarily a sculptor, he uses cheap, plentiful, common
materials to create wondrous, thought-provoking, exquisite works of art. The beautifully breath-
taking messages and stories behind each of his works are highly relatable, transcending
international borders and connecting to the human experience. Hidden in the crude materials and
raw destructiveness of his pieces is an overwhelming sense of hope. "
" If I should be hired as the Special Curator of Contemporary Art, my focus would be two-
fold. For one, I would strive to curate exhibitions that garner international attention and place
State College on the map as an up-and-coming town full of unique culture. On the other hand, I
would also place a lot of focus on cultivating a newfound appreciation for the arts in the Penn
State community. As a college town with 40,000 undergraduate students, many of whom have
never stepped into the Palmer Museum of Art or another gallery on campus, we need an
El Anatsui, interview by Art21, Art in the Twenty-First Century: Change, April 14, 2012.1

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impossible-to-ignore opening exhibition that grabs their attention and makes them eager for
more. El Anatsui’s work will do just that."
" My first criteria in choosing from Anatsui’s vast amount of works was to find ones that
most fit the themes of destruction, change, and growth. When it came to the larger-scale pieces
on the exteriors of buildings, I not only chose some of the most eye-catching, but I also took the
building’s architecture, location, and purpose into consideration."
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Exhibit Details!
" This showcase of El Anatsui’s work would be a large-scale exhibition spanning various
locations across the Penn State campus. The ideal time to open this exhibit would at the
beginning of the fall semester; not only would early fall have the perfect weather for a primarily
outdoor exhibition, but students would be flooding in for a new school year eager and excited to
explore campus."
" The main exhibit space would be in the Robeson Gallery in the HUB-Robeson Center in
central campus. I also envision smaller concentrations of works being placed in both west and
east campus. This way, people looking to view all of the Anatsui pieces on display would only
need to focus on three locations; in the course of a few minutes and just a matter of steps, an
individual would see at least three pieces. Also, this display strategy would allow the art to be
exposed to those who are not typically on the look-out for it. Having concentrations of pieces
throughout campus would make it difficult for Penn State students, faculty, and visitors not to
encounter at least one piece as they go about their day. "
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Central Exhibit Space: Robeson Gallery!
" The Robeson Gallery, located in the basement of the HUB-Robeson Center, was chosen
because of it’s central location on campus and the high amount of traffic that flows through the
HUB every day. It would serve as a place to display some of Anatsui’s smaller pieces from his
earlier years. Following with the theme of “destruction as a prerequisite for growth,” the gallery
would feature pieces that deal with brokenness, adaptability, and change. "
" One piece in this gallery would be Anatsui’s Erosion from 1992. This wooden sculpture
stands at nearly 10 feet tall, with wood chips and sawdust scattered on the floor around it (see
Image 1). For Anatsui, the color of the wood represents the people and cultures of Africa; he then
took a chainsaw to the wood and blackened it with a blowtorch . By starting with a beautifully2
whole piece of wood, altering it with savage force, and creating something new, Anatsui gives
this piece the common theme of “destruction and growth.”"
" Other pieces in this gallery that fall under similar themes would include selections from
his Broken Pots series from the late 1970s (see Image 2) and wooden panels such as 2002‘s
Communication Lines in 1004 Flats (see Image 3) and 1998‘s Day and Night Opening to Each
Other (see Image 4). The Broken Pots series quite obviously shows new beginnings that can arise
from destruction, while the wooden panels communicate themes of human connections and time
passing, as well as physical change (as the panels can be arranged in any way a curator wants)."
" Yet the focal point of the interior of the Robeson Gallery would be the display of
Anatsui’s 2007 piece Fading Scroll. This piece is currently owned by the Los Angeles County
Museum of Art and the Fowler Museum . At 472 inches long, this aluminum and copper wire3
Geoff Wisner, “El Anatsui’s Shifting Planes,” Warscapes, October 10, 2013.2
Brooke Fruchtman, “Last Chance to See Fading Scroll... For Now,” Unframed (blog), October 31, 2008.3

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bottle cap piece would fit perfectly in the gallery’s rotunda (see Image 5). Walking into that
circular space would allow viewers to be immersed in the reflective gold of the carefully
constructed aluminum fabric; the reflectiveness would be enhanced by the windows around the
rotunda that let in natural light."
" The exterior of the gallery would display a piece from 2006 called Versatility, an
aluminum and copper wire piece currently owned by the Fowler Museum at the University of
California, Los Angeles (see Image 6). It’s an exquisite, large-scale gold piece which greatly
compliments the gold Fading Scroll on the interior made of the same materials. Additionally, the
title itself ties the work to the exhibition’s themes of change and growth. According to the
National Museum of African Art, Anatsui claimed that this piece is a metaphor which “suggests
the notion of adaptability and the twists and turns of human existence” . "4
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West Exhibit Space: IST Building, Hammond Building, Library!
" The Information Sciences and Technology (IST) Building is one of the buildings that
would be in the west campus concentration of the exhibition. This building is built as an
overpass which spans over Atherton Street, a highly trafficked street that many use to enter and
exit campus. This overpass would be a fantastic place to hang Anatsui’s sheer Gli from 2010 (see
Image 7). Draping it from the building would add two additional dimensions to the piece:
movement and sound. The wind -- either natural breeze or manufactured by speeding cars --
would gently swing Gli back and forth, creating a noticeable sound for all passersby. "
" Hammond Building stretches across a considerable length of southwest campus and runs
parallel to several downtown restaurants, bars, and shops, making it a great location for Anatsui’s
“El Anatsui: Gawu,” National Museum of African Art, 2009.4

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monumental Broken Bridge II constructed in 2012 out of recycled tin and pressed mirror panels
(see Image 8). It’s incredible mirrored surface would reflect quaint downtown State College and
the sky above it, creating an eye-catching display that would spark the interest of the thousands
who frequent the area."
" The third location in west campus to display an Anatsui masterpiece would be the south
entrance to Pattee and Paterno Libraries. Here I would place Ozone Layer, a 2010 piece that was
originally shown at the National Gallery in Berlin (see Image 9). The juxtaposition of the new
work of art made of bottle caps and one of the older buildings on campus adds to the idea that we
cannot neglect the past -- we must learn from it. In addition to that, the title Ozone Layer hints at
an ongoing (perhaps man-made) destruction, which fits with the theme of the exhibition."
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East Exhibit Space: Business Building, Arboretum, Katz Law Building!
" The eastern section of the exhibition would consist of, ideally, a commissioned piece
similar to Anatsui’s Broken Bridge as displayed at the Paris Triennial in 2012 (see Image 10).
Placed on the exterior of the Business Building, it would serve to reflect that which faces it.
While the town of State College is being reflected on the Hammond Building in the southwest
corner of campus, the trees of the Arboretum and vast country side will be reflected on the
Business Building in the northeast. This brings nature back into the structure of this very angular
building and into campus as a whole. It would contrast the stability of the natural world with the
ever-changing world that is the Penn State campus."
" The Arboretum itself would have the 2000 piece Crumbling Wall on display. Currently in
the collection of Audrey and David Mirvish in Toronto, Canada (see Image 11), Crumbling Wall
is made of rusting steel sheets that were once used to rigorously grate flour by hand. Anatsui said

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in an interview with The Washington Post that this 13-foot-tall “wall” not only hides, but reveals
things, because one can see through the porous surface and project what may be behind it .5
Placing this crude structure in the Arboretum would speak to the melancholy of depleting
materials while highlighting the natural beauty around it."
" The final piece on display would be TSIATSIA - searching for connection, originally
created in 2013 for the Royal Academy of Arts in London. Comprised of bottle caps, printing
plates, and roofing sheets, Anatsui has said that this piece is a metaphor for “the evolving
narrative of memory and identity” . That being said, I find it fitting for TSIATSIA to be placed on6
the eastern-most part of Penn State, in a location where one can step back from the bubble of
campus and consider their own individual place and identity within it all. "
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" I find the thread of themes in El Anatsui’s works to be highly intriguing. The insight
present in his art speaks to the universal human experience of destruction, change, and growth.
The pieces chosen in this exhibition proposal are what I believe can best be adapted to the Penn
State campus while complimenting the university’s cultural needs and expectations. If this
exhibition were to be displayed, there is no doubt that Penn State would become one of the most
well-respected and highly talked about university art scenes in the country."
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Barbara Pollack, “El Anatsui, a Sculptor Who Starts From Scrap,” The Washington Post, March 23, 2008.5
October Gallery, “El Anatsui: TSIATSIA-searching for connection,” 2013.6