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No Surprises Here: Creator of public-art displays reports his latest plan at bus depot to police
Photo Courtesy of Secca
Mark Jenkins’ work Sleepwalker will be on view starting Monday. Other pieces of his work prompted 911 calls.
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Published: October 29, 2009
Updated: 10/29/2009 12:05 am
Another piece of Mark Jenkins' public art will go on display Monday.
But this time, the Winston-Salem Police Department has been fully briefed.
So in all likelihood, Sleepwalker will remain blissfully stuck in its sleeping bag after it is installed at the Campbell Transportation Center on Fifth Street.
"We have worked closely with the city of Winston-Salem and the Winston-Salem Police Department so they will be alerted that this sculpture is going on view for the public," said Steven Matijcio, the curator of contemporary art at the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art.
Jenkins has stopped pedestrians around the world with his life-size bodies positioned in weird ways.
And the works he has created for "Inside Out: Artists in the Community II," SECCA's yearlong, public-art program, have caused quite a stir.
One was thought to be a human wrapped in a bag hanging from a tree on the grounds of Reynolda House.
The other, a life-size sculpture of a woman in a reclining position on top of a billboard at the corner of Eighth and Trade streets, was thought by passers-by to be a woman in distress.
In both cases, the pieces generated 911 calls, which led police to take them down.
Martha Wheelock, an assistant city manager, confirmed in an e-mail that the police know about Sleepwalker.
SECCA has been given a land-access agreement and insurance information, which, Wheelock said, "should take care of the city's concerns regarding risk and liability."
That paperwork should be final by Monday, she said.
"Because of the location and type of artwork, we do not believe it will generate emergency phone calls," she said.
kkeuffel@wsjournal.com
727-7337
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