Sculpture Milwaukee Returning In Phases For 2022

Milwaukee’s leading public art exhibition, Sculpture Milwaukee, is back for its sixth year.

In many respects, it never left. The curated exhibit from 2021 is largely still installed on downtown streets and will remain through October.

But the 2022 exhibit is starting to arrive, albeit slower than those in the past. The first six pieces are being actively installed, while more will follow throughout the summer. Five are ready for immediate viewing.

The nonprofit host organization is juggling everything from supply chain issues for artists fabricating pieces to new site selection logistics for larger pieces. Some of the issues, said executive director Brian Schupper, are purely organic in nature, as the flowers used in at least one undisclosed piece of art need to be literally grown.

The 2022 installation is called “Nature Doesn’t Know About Us” and it’s curated by Ugo Rondinone. As it rolls out, Schupper and the organization’s backers are confident people will be pleased with the connectivity it brings to the city.

“For us, what is most important is engaging and connecting community and that is exactly what Sculpture Milwaukee does,” said Milwaukee Downtown, Business Improvement District #21 CEO Beth Weirick at a press conference Thursday morning at the eastern end of Wisconsin Avenue.

She said her organization was happy to welcome 5,000 Northwestern Mutual employees back to the office last week and thinks they will find the sculptures just one of many reasons to enjoy coming downtown to work. “People missed connecting with our community,” she said. “How fortunate are we to have this globally recognized exhibition free in our community?”

Schupper said the footprint of the exhibit will grow from past years. It will stretch from Walker’s Point on the south to the Marcus Performing Arts Center on the north while also going further west than ever before. The exhibit traditionally was installed along Wisconsin Avenue between the Milwaukee Art Museum and N. 6th St. but its footprint has slowly expanded with each season. A handful of sculptures have also been purchased for permanent display.

Five new pieces are now on display:

• Geoffrey Hendricks‘ “Sky/Stairs #2” on the stairs leading from O’Donnell Park to N. Lincoln Memorial Dr. and E. Michigan St.
• Ned Smyth‘s “Spiky Column Green,” “Spiky Column Red” and “Spiky Column Blue” at the eastern end of Wisconsin Avenue (just east of “The Calling“)
• Maya Lin‘s “Courtyard Sea” in the recessed courtyard on the eastern side of the 411 East Wisconsin Center
• Sarah Lucas‘ piece “William Hambling” at the Marcus Center, 929 N. Water St.
• John Giorno‘s “LET IT COME LET IT GO,” ” YOU CAN’T HURT ME CAUSE STORMS HURT THE SKY” and “DO THE UNDONE” at the intersection of E. Wisconsin Ave. and N. Jefferson St.

The pieces cover a wide variety of sizes and materials, with Hendricks’ piece being literally adhered to the stairs (best viewed from the ground on east) while Lin’s transforms an oft-overlooked fountain.

Lin is best known for her creation of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C. Giorno, a poet, is the late husband of Rondinone, the exhibit curator.

A sixth piece, “Pyramid” by Maren Hassinger, was announced but is delayed because of supply chain issues with its fabrication.

Rondinone, a New York-based Swiss artist, is serving as the guest curator for 2022.

“The natural world serves as a doorway into a highly rarefied metaphysical realm where the sea of consciousness surges against the tangible world. Here all is in flux as distinctions between self and soul, body and spirit, past and present, mortification and bliss, confinement and escape all blur and waver. The exhibition celebrates the disparate elements of the Earth, while exploring the human connection to nature,” said Rondinone in announcing the 13-piece exhibition in February.

Rondinone’s work has been exhibited at Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zurich; Sadie Coles HQ, London and as part of the 52nd Venice Biennale in Italy. His curations include exhibitions at Palais de Tokyo, Paris, Secession, Vienna and Barbara Gladstone Gallery, New York.

The organization will host a family-friendly arts festival on Saturday, June 18 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the 3rd Street Market Hall, 275 W. Wisconsin Ave. Performing arts partners will give free performances, Betty Brinn Children’s Museum will offer family activities and CirculateMKE will host a market featuring entrepreneurs and artists.

“This organization has put its stamp on Milwaukee in ways that we never could have imagined,” said board member and Brewers Community Foundation executive director Cecelia Gore.

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