The city of Cambridge said it is negotiating an agreement with the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority to repair the transit agency’s kinetic sculpture, “The Gift of the Wind,” at the Porter Square T station. With no department at the MBTA overseeing the agency’s art collection, the future of the sculpture is being determined by lawyers — Cambridge’s law department is negotiating access to the sculpture with the MBTA’s legal team.
Claudia Zarazua, interim executive director of Cambridge Arts, said that if approved by the MBTA, the restoration of the outdoor sculpture could take roughly three months, depending on the weather. As proposed, the project would be overseen by the city’s arts agency, which handles conservation of the city’s own art collection.
Funding has been set aside to make it possible — $250,000 from the state of Massachusetts ($100,000) and the city of Cambridge ($150,000) for this fiscal year. But it’s not yet clear if those funds will cover the full cost of the project. Zarazua said Cambridge Arts is waiting on the MBTA’s “green light” to initiate a public procurement process, which would allow them to get an accurate quote for the cost.
A statement from the MBTA suggests a slightly different order of operations. An MBTA spokesperson told Cambridge Day via email that the agency was “working to obtain an updated scope of work and cost estimate” for the sculpture’s restoration. The spokesperson added that “potential restoration efforts need to be evaluated across budgets.”
So, Cambridge says it needs the MBTA’s approval to get a cost estimate for the project, but the agency says it needs a cost estimate for approval. It’s unclear what will happen first.
Zarazua said that if more funds are needed, the city may request additional funds from the Community Preservation Act Committee. Future restoration of the sculpture could be safeguarded if it becomes a historic landmark.
Lack of clarity on timing
Zarazua says the timing for the MBTA’s approval is still a “big unknown” because Cambridge and the MBTA must both “be in agreement [about] access to the site and that can take time and it’s not something we can predict.”
She said the murky timeline may dissuade other cities’ administrators from initiating their own restoration projects of MBTA-owned artwork and that ideally there would be a “template” that others could follow to care for public artwork in their jurisdictions.
The MBTA’s artwork along the Red Line was the country’s first art collection commissioned by a transit agency. While it was a point of pride for the agency when it debuted in the ’80s, some of its oldest or most iconic artworks are showing wear or have been uninstalled.
Public art has the effect of belonging to everyone, but often it is technically owned by someone — a mural on the face of a business perhaps by the building’s owner, a sculpture in a park perhaps by the city. When that owner doesn’t have the resources or a system to maintain that art, as is the case with the MBTA, it’s not always clear who should claim responsibility for art that is publicly deteriorating.
“All we can do is be ready to do the bidding or procurement process as soon as the agreement is in place,” said Zarazua.
Report warns against delays
In September, the Community Preservation Act Committee shared its recommendations for projects and in its summary of the “Gift of the Wind,” the committee wrote that the 43-year-old sculpture is now “in visibly poor condition.”
The report cites faded and peeling paint, rust and corrosion, lubricant leakage at pivot points, and unknown bearing conditions.
“Beyond the diminished appearance of a beloved landmark, delay carries real risk: corrosion will worsen, treatment will become more complicated, and costs will continue to rise,” it wrote.
The committee says it supports a full restoration, which would include deinstalling it and replacing its bearings and mechanical components. It would then be cleaned and repainted before installation.
“We’re excited to get it done, to finally have the funding to allow us to get this done,” said Zarazua. She remarked that the sculpture was erected the year she was born, 1985, and she “can’t believe it’s still there.”
“With all the growth and future development that maybe Porter Square will see, we want to make sure the public art stands up to it and continues to be a presence in the community for many years to come.”
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