– The sculpture was originally installed in 1980 as part of the Vanderbilt Medical Center, Vanderbilt University Hospital Building.

– In 2022 because of the recent physical expansion of the hospital complex the sculpture had to be removed. After dialogs with Eric Kopstain (Vice Chancellor for Administration), we are able to coordinate with university for us to re-structure the sculpture and re-locate it for an outdoor location on campus.

– During our site visit in March 2023 the Massey Circle was chosen for the new location. 

– Though the sculpture was designed for an interior location, in a hospital setting where the caring for people was the central focus, we feel the aesthetic integrity of the sculpture will be sustained outdoors within a place of higher education and that the purity of the sculpture’s form can symbolize the opportunity for a new beginning and our constant need to refortify the pillars of our society.  

Artist Statement for Cylinder in a Prism (1980, bronze, 26 x 4 x 4 ft.)
Relocation, Massey Circle, Vanderbilt University

Public sculpture, when abstract, invites reflection on the human encounter with Otherness. The sculpture requires us to give pause, inspires a shift in perspective and, as such, pays homage to the humility that is fundamental to all educational endeavors.

Cylinder in a Prism commissioned in 1980 for the Vanderbilt University Medical Center, was created in this humble spirit: to present the passerby to slow down and take note, to become more mindful of the space the sculpture inhabits, to ask questions. What significance will viewers attribute to the form? The embrace is elemental: two geometric columns rising together symbiotically in a vertical dimension. This harmonious embrace was essential to the message of caregiving that the sculpture was originally designed to express.

Now, in its new location, Massey Circle, on Vanderbilt University’s campus, the sentiment of care extends across a vast, outdoor space, abundant with movement and vitality. The patina of the bronze will change over time but the integrity of the material and its universal message promises to withstand the test of time. 

Cylinder in a Prism honors the university’s mission to celebrate the best in humanity and to unite its diverse community in the humility that underlies all innovative scholarship.

 – Virginio Ferrari, April 24, 2023