ART

“Tilted Arc,” a massive steel sculpture at the center of a bitter eight-year conflict over artistic freedom that pitted federal workers against the artist hired by the U.S. government to create the work, has been removed from Federal Plaza in New York’s lower Manhattan. Workers dismantled Richard Serra’s 12-foot-tall, 120-foot-long rusting steel wall, which was commissioned by the federal government for $181,000 and completed in 1981. It has been at the center of a heated debate since soon after its installation, when 7,000 employees who work in the adjacent building petitioned the government to remove the sculpture because they deemed it an eyesore. When the government decided to relocate the controversial sculpture in 1985, Serra fought the removal through several legal avenues, saying he was being deprived of his First Amendment right to free speech and asserting that the plans would destroy the artwork. The sculpture will now be stored until officials decide whether to sell it or erect it elsewhere.