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THE NEW YORK TIMES, SUNDAY, MARCH 13, 1988
Follow-Up on the News

Trying to Move A Wall of Art

IT IS infinitely simpler to commission a work of art than it is to remove one after it has been installed, the Federal Government is learning.

The art in question, "Tilted Arc," a sculpture by Richard Serra, was installed in Federal Plaza in Manhattan in 1981 with the approval of the General Services Administration. But amid complaints that the art -- a 12-foot-high, 120-foot-long steel wall -- limited access to the plaza, 7,000 workers petitioned for its removal. 

With democratic fervor, the G.S.A.'s regional administrator in New York, William J. Diamond, declared in 1985: "The people have spoken, and they have been listened to by their Government."

Not by Mr. Serra, however.

He sued the Federal agency to block the removal of his sculpture, saying, "To relocate the work is to destroy it." He lost late September in Federal District Court in Manhattan but has appealed.

Meanwhile, a committee appointed by the National Endowment for the Arts to help relocate the sculpture has recommended that the artwork stay right where it is.

Where does that leave "Tilted Arc"?

"It's sort of in a vacuum," says Charles Degliomini, an assistant to Mr. Diamond. 

The General Services Administration is waiting for the United States Court of Appeals to rule on Mr. Serra's appeal before it makes any further decisions about the sculpture, Mr. Degliomini says.