We walk past these structures every day. When I ask my colleagues, none of them know the history of these objects.
The Art Walk / Globe Sculpture represents the connection between healthcare education side of the campus, and the research / clinical side of the campus. Beginning on the education side, a solid sphere is positioned adjacent to the Education quadrangle, 5 buildings where five schools share classrooms and resources (see link to walkabout blog). Down the long, uninterrupted sidewalk, you can see that the sculptures all line up, through various archways, to the final sculpture on the research and clinical side of the campus, represented by the wireframe sphere.
A nice metaphor: the undifferentiated form of a sphere could represent an the raw idea, the unsophisticated view of healthcare, where the underlying principles are unseen. On the other end, traveling through time and space, and the years of a healthcare education, the wireframe represents the discovery and use of hard-won knowledge of the underlying structure of the sphere, to be employed in the discovery of new knowledge and the use of this knowledge in the care of patients and populations.
For me, it is reminiscent of the metaphysical Fuzzy/Techie line at Stanford University, represented by an imaginary line dividing the scientific side of campus and the arts side of the campus. Ours is better, methinks.
Little known fact: All these sculptures have power outlets and free wi-fi!
CMIO’s take? Cool things abound, all around us.
