Center of the Universe used to have meaning, not garbage

Editor,

The “Center of the Universe,” Bruce Nauman’s art piece outside Ortega Hall, and reporter Alexandra Swanberg’s Feb. 23 Daily Lobo article really upset me.

The “Center of the Universe” was one of my favorite art pieces at UNM, and the write-up about it was good as far as it went.

“As it stands today, the structure extends in five directions and meets at right angles, implying a coordinate system,” the article said. “The grate in the center acts as the hypothetical center of the universe.”

But as it stands today, the piece isn’t the original concept or construction.

Under the grate is a sixth tunnel that goes straight down. It was lighted to match the five other tunnels’ natural light. To walk over the thin grate and deep, lighted pit was a somewhat disturbing experience, especially for me since I have mild vertigo. But the fear of walking over the pit would make you look up and see a reassuring sky left and right, down again and then walk forward.

In that moment that you stopped, you would think about your place in the vast universe.

Leaves and trash blew into the pit. UNM wouldn’t clean out the trash and so it rose. But rather than keeping the pit clean or placing a window under the grate, UNM changed the piece’s concept by screening the pit and turning the “Center of the Universe” into the funny little tunnel that it is today.

No one looks down because there is nothing to see. No one looks up to a reassuring sky, and no one thinks about where you are in the universe.

Don Menning
UNM student