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Motu by Mark di Suvero
Photo CreditPhoto courtesy of McKay Lodge Fine Arts Conservation Laboratory, Inc.
Motu
Photo CreditPhoto courtesy of McKay Lodge Fine Arts Conservation Laboratory, Inc.

Motu

Artist
Year1977
Classification sculpture
Medium cor-ten steel and rubber tire
Dimensions35 x 38 x 54 ft. (420 x 456 x 647 15/16 in.)
Other (Rubber Tire): 84 in. (213.4 cm)
Credits Commissioned through the Art in Architecture Program
Fine Arts Collection
U.S. General Services Administration
Location


  • The sculpture consists of three intersecting, unpainted Cor-ten steel beams which form a pyramid-like structure approximately 35' x38' x 54' in size.  A "gondola", made of a tire about 7 feet in diameter, is suspended from the triangular point by cables. The rubber gondola serves as a swing for children. The title is taken from "Motu Viget", the city's moto, which means strength in activity.



    Plaque:


    The sculpture takes its name from the Latin motto of the city of Grand Rapids, Motu Viget, "because of motion it thrives," and was inspired by the city's qualities of strength and activity.  It reflects the artist's practice of combining massive forms with found objects and scrap materials.  Di Suvero strives for a rapport between the viewer and the work of art.  He was influenced by the city of Grand Rapids to design a "more gregarious" sculpture, and his addition of a hanging "gondola" piece, in the form of a huge tire allows people to swing freely amidst the sculpture's slanting steel beams.  As Di Suvero stated regarding outdoor art: 



    "With art people can turn their environment into something creative, something where people can meet and display energy."