Skip to main content

Image / READ/WRITE/THINK/DREAM: close up view of student portrait superimposed on entrance/exit

Have a question about this item?

Item information. View source record on contributor's website.

Title
READ/WRITE/THINK/DREAM: close up view of student portrait superimposed on entrance/exit
Creator
Baldessari, John (American conceptual artist, born 1931)
Stuart Collection (San Diego, Calif.)
Rittermann, Philipp Scholz (American photographer, 1955 CE-)
Contributor
Beebe, Mary Livingstone (American, born 1940)
Date Created and/or Issued
2001
Contributing Institution
UC San Diego, The UC San Diego Library
Collection
Stuart Collection Photographs
Rights Information
Under copyright
Constraint(s) on Use: This work is protected by the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.). Use of this work beyond that allowed by "fair use" requires written permission of the UC Regents. Responsibility for obtaining permissions and any use and distribution of this work rests exclusively with the user and not the UC San Diego Library. Inquiries can be made to the UC San Diego Library program having custody of the work.
Use: This work is available from the UC San Diego Library. This digital copy of the work is intended to support research, teaching, and private study.
Rights Holder and Contact
Rittermann, Philipp Scholz (American photographer, 1955 CE-)
Description
Decorative Arts, Utilitarian Objects and Interior Design
Sculpture and Installations
Before his 1994 visit to UCSD, Baldessari had been thinking about Ghiberti’s fifteenth-century bronze doors in Florence which render Bible stories in high relief, teaching the moral lessons of the day. His work also involves lessons, but in the form of questions rather than answers: through surprising combinations of pictures he prods the viewer into open-ended puzzles. The most prominent doors at UCSD were at the entrance to the Geisel Library, a landmark building designed by the California architect William Pereira, with a 1992 expansion by Gunnar Birkerts. Baldessari decided first to transform the library doors and then to incorporate the entire lobby space, choosing students as his subject. The entrance to the Geisel Library is comprised of a wall of eight ten-foot high glass panels flanking two pairs of automatic sliding doors. Onto each of these panels the artist placed photographic images of UCSD students standing atop a row of shelved books. They become part of the architectural structure – like a Greek temple using the figures as columns, the books as their bases. The existing clear glass of the doors was replaced with glass in primary colors, perhaps suggesting primary sources of information. As the doors open and close, the colored panes cross over each other, visually mixing into new colors. Above the doors the words READ, WRITE, THINK and DREAM echo the exhortation Baldessari gave his students to remember that beyond the day-to-day grind comes the chance to contemplate the unexpected and envision new worlds.
UC San Diego Library, UC San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093-0175 (https://library.ucsd.edu/dc/contact)
Geisel Library, University of California, San Diego; La Jolla, California, United States
Type
image
Format
Glass (material); computer-generated
Form/Genre
architecture (object genre)
entrance halls
sculpture (visual work)
murals (any medium)
lobbies
Conceptual
walls
site-specific works
Portraits
Identifier
ark:/20775/bb7305396v
Language
No linguistic content
Subject
Transparency (optical property)
Humor
Caryatids
Public spaces
American
Façades
Contemporary
Books
Students
Color (perceived attribute)
Education
University of California, San Diego--History
Architecture (object genre)
Entrance halls
Sculpture (visual work)
Murals (any medium)
Lobbies
Conceptual
Walls
Site-specific works
Portraits

About the collections in Calisphere

Learn more about the collections in Calisphere. View our statement on digital primary resources.

Copyright, permissions, and use

If you're wondering about permissions and what you can do with this item, a good starting point is the "rights information" on this page. See our terms of use for more tips.

Share your story

Has Calisphere helped you advance your research, complete a project, or find something meaningful? We'd love to hear about it; please send us a message.

Explore related content on Calisphere: