Art installation by Peter Agoos at Boston's Fort Point Channel

Peter Agoos ’75 brightened Boston’s public art scene this summer.

This past summer, a temporary art installation titled Arts Imbalance brightened the days of many in downtown Boston. On July 1, a dozen volunteers, working from a small boat on the water and a scissor lift on land, strung a 300-foot-long yellow tightrope across the city’s Fort Point Channel, anchoring the ends to the Summer Street and Congress Street bridges. A pair of life-size, aluminum, sheet-metal figures—modeled on a classic wooden artist’s manikin—counterbalanced each other above and below the rope. They were coated in refractive dichroic film, which transmits certain wavelengths of light but reflects others, treating observers to prismatic displays of reflected sunlight. Now and again the figures moved in reaction to the wind. The installation was the work of Peter Agoos ’75, a multimedia artist who has trained in stage design, sculpture, graphic design, and film (https://agoos.com). “I’ve lived here for more than 30 years and walked over those bridges thousands of times,” says Agoos, who lives only a couple of blocks from the installation. “I have just been wanting to do something in the air over that water.”

You might also like

For This Poet, AI is a Writing Partner

Sasha Stiles trained a chatbot on her manuscripts. Now, her poems rewrite themselves.

How to Cook with Wild Plants

From wild greens spanakopita to rose petal panna cotta, forager and chef Ellen Zachos makes one-of-a-kind meals.

Houghton Library Displays Revolution-era News and Propaganda

A new exhibit reveals how early Americans learned about the war.

Most popular

AI Outperforms Doctors in Emergency Room Tasks, New Harvard Study Shows

Researchers say the technology could help physicians with triage, diagnosis.

Ask a Harvard Professor with Rebecca Henderson

How to reform capitalism to confront climate change and extreme inequality, with economist and McArthur University Professor Rebecca Henderson

Martin Nowak Placed on Leave a Second Time

Further links to Jeffrey Epstein surface in newly released files.

Explore More From Current Issue

Brick archway with a sandy base, surrounded by wooden planks and boxes in a dim space.

How the American Revolution Freed a Future Abolitionist

Darby Vassall, an enslaved child freed after the Battle of Bunker Hill, dedicated his life to fighting for liberty.

Woman in historical dress standing in front of green foliage, smiling brightly.

This Harvard Graduate Brings Women of the Revolution to Life

Historical reenactor Lauren Shear reveals tricks of the trade for playing Tory loyalists, Revolutionary poets, and more.

Woman with long hair, smiling, wearing a black sweater, in a textured beige background.

For This Poet, AI is a Writing Partner

Sasha Stiles trained a chatbot on her manuscripts. Now, her poems rewrite themselves.