In his book on modern architecture entitled, "From Bauhaus To Our House," Tom Wolfe wrote about modern architectural foibles, and a certain type of public art, increasingly found outside newer office buildings in large U.S. cities. The latter he termed an archetype that is all too real: "Turd On The Plaza." Known to some as "plop art." Some such turds are more unsightly than others, but the primary impulse is to deposit something in a receptacle (a plaza) to fill a need (in this case, the uplifting of the desensitized masses and the "beautification" of public space). But with aesthetic standards in great decline - and deconstructionist values ascendant in the arts, humanities and social sciences - any old post-modernist hunk of stuff will do. In fact, to demonstrate the irrrelevance of the dead white males who developed and built upon classic sculpture, the turd on the plaza becomes a sort of modern-day political imperative.

My dear, crazy old hometown of Chicago, which I recently visited, has a great deal of wonderful architecture, and its share of turds on the plaza. You can see some of each in this picture I took, of the plaza at 401 N. Michigan Avenue, looking south, back across the Chicago River.

Looks like a big, rusted Slinky to me. My mom always said to keep my toys in the closet.

TECHNORATI TAGS: CHICAGO, ARCHITECTURE, PUBLIC ART, TOM WOLFE, TURD ON THE PLAZA