Daedalus (sculpture)

[1][3][4][5] Originally, it was in front of UMMA, but when the museum underwent a major renovation in 2008–2009, it was moved to the south lawn of the building, across the street from the University of Michigan Law School.

UMMA's website describes the sculpture as follows: Daedalus's arched footprint and fan of flat planes evoke the shape of a wing in mid-flight.

[1]In 1977, the Michigan Alumnus noted, "The placement of the sculpture on the front lawn of the museum has drawn some criticism from those who feel it blocks the view of the distinguished campus landmark.

But the steel in this Daedalus thing - worked by Charles Ginneyer, a New York artist who specializes in such stuff - really deserves to be on the lawn of the art museum instead of in an automobile bumper.

In a news release handed out on the spot Biron informed the public that the $500,000 price tag - a figure arrived at partially by adding labor and material costs - was not a criticism of the unusual sculpture.

"What shocks most people in my assertion is not the relative aesthetic worth of the two works of art," Biron said, referring to Daedalus and the price tag, "but the genuine challenge it presents to economic assumptions upon which our society rests.

In other words, if I were given 'a half million dollars for the price tag and the sculptor only received 10 per cent of this amount, this would seriously upset generally held beliefs as to what constitutes the apparently logical distribution of money in our society.

Nonetheless, like an old warrior, the twisting sculpture stands guard outside the art museum, immune to the raves and ridicule its form has inspired.