“Arch”: The Robot Made of Bridges
Arch's right side
Commissioned by the City of Pittsburgh as part of the celebration of Pittsburgh’s 250th birthday, “Arch” is a robot made of Pittsburgh’s bridges. It was created by Glenn Kaino, a “shrewdly nonsensical” artist married to fashion designer Corey Lynn Calter.
The Transformer-like sculpture is made of steel and fiberglass and stands 20 feet tall looking out over the river at PNC Park.
Installed in August 2008, Arch was slated to remain in his location at the corner of Seventh Street and Fort Duquesne Boulevard for six months. He’s still there, though, I took these pictures of him on March 5, 2010. I haven’t found any information about why he’s still around, but I’m glad. Arch makes me smile every time I go by.
I love seeing Pittsburgh’s bridges in a different context– they’re so familiar yet surprising as a robot. He’s got the Smithfield Street Bridge for his right upper arm that evokes muscles, and one of the arch bridges (Birmingham, perhaps?) as his turtle-shell back.
Arch at night
He’s gotten a lot of reactions from locals and tourists alike, which I think is another testament to its success. It’s definitely not a sculpture that just blends into the landscape! It’s also really accessible to a wide range of people– abstract or historical sculpture isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but in my searching of opinions about Arch on blogs, I haven’t found a negative reaction. Sure, auto blog Jalopnik thinks it’s scary, but scary awesome, not scary bad.
It’s been seen as having many interpretations such as a “a bridge to the future, a bridge to the past, or Rick Sebach’s Bridge to Nowhere”. One visitor said it was the most delightful thing in downtown Pittsburgh! I think my favorite reaction to this is from OMGPittsburgh– Arch is a serendipitous reminder “to keep us questioning JUST HOW MUCH we, Pittsburghers, know about this amazing city we call ours”.
Tags: 2000s, fiberglass, glenn kaino, steel
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