Reflections on Architecture

I read in the local news that vandals uprooted a sculpture of a cactus made by under privileged teenagers as part of a working classroom project funded by a $50,000 grant from the State. City refuse workers were called to the scene, decided the sculpture looked like trash, and hauled it off to the landfill where it was compacted and buried.  A spokesman for the city said it was an honest mistake, and the article lamented "That mistake has erased a priceless piece of art!"

I find it interesting that the media assumes the sculpture was 1) art and 2) priceless. Apparently, the vandals and the city refuse workers held contrary views to that of the reporter. And as far as it being priceless? According to a spokeswoman for the Working Classroom it cost $50,000. Pricey yes, priceless no. 

The reporter assumes that the vandals and refuse workers have no taste or sense of art. I assume he believes that's because the refuse workers pick up trash, and that anyone would would vandalize a sculpture made by under privileged teens is a philistine. Since I know nothing about the vandals or the refuse workers, any one of them could have a degree in art or art history. I'm fairly confident that refuse workers make higher salaries than average art historians or artists who subsist solely from art, and I wouldn't be surprised if there were a lot of artists who work for the city's refuse department who would have very good sensibilities about art.

The reporter also assumes that since the sculpture was made by under privileged teens in a project funded by the state, it must be art. However, was it art because under privileged teens created a large sculpture of a cactus using state funds? Was it art because the cactus represented labor by under privileged teens funded by the state? Was it art because it made a statement about the condition of the under privileged teens and moved people who saw the sculpture to become more aware and civically minded about the condition of under privileged teens? Or was it art because the cactus was so well crafted and designed that it stood on its own as art? Difficult questions to answer now that the sculpture lies buried in the landfill.

I think the art is in the process of the sculpture being vandalized, hauled off to the dump, compacted and buried. Obviously no one in the vicinity of the sculpture came to its aid, and whoever called the refuse department to deal with the uprooted sculpture did not think it worth saving. But now, a formerly unknown sculpture has some notoriety and an archive in the chronicles of local news.