Vandals break glass panes on sculpture at Pappajohn Sculpture Park in Des Moines Wednesday night

Grace Altenhofen, Des Moines Register
·2 min read
The Olafur Eliasson sculpture "panoramic awareness pavilion" was vandalized overnight Wednesday at the Pappajohn Sculpture Park in Des Moines. In total, six glass panels were shattered.
The Olafur Eliasson sculpture "panoramic awareness pavilion" was vandalized overnight Wednesday at the Pappajohn Sculpture Park in Des Moines. In total, six glass panels were shattered.

Several glass panes on a well-known sculpture at the Pappajohn Sculpture Park in downtown Des Moines were shattered overnight Wednesday in an apparent act of vandalism.

According to Des Moines Police Department spokesperson Sgt. Paul Parizek, six glass panes were shattered on the Olafur Eliasson sculpture "panoramic awareness pavilion." The popular rainbow-colored ring near the park's southern edge on Locust Street is comprised of 23 glass panels weighing 1,200 pounds each.

Amy Day, spokesperson for the Des Moines Art Center, which oversees the sculpture park, said the glass panels were "intentionally damaged." The art center filed a police report and surveillance video footage is being reviewed by law enforcement.

The Olafur Eliasson sculpture "panoramic awareness pavilion" was vandalized overnight Wednesday at the Pappajohn Sculpture Park in Des Moines. In total, six glass panels were shattered.
The Olafur Eliasson sculpture "panoramic awareness pavilion" was vandalized overnight Wednesday at the Pappajohn Sculpture Park in Des Moines. In total, six glass panels were shattered.

There is no estimate for the cost and timeline of repairs to the sculpture yet.

"The Des Moines Art Center is continuing to collect information and investigating next steps for the repair of the piece," Day said.

This is not the first time the popular sculpture has seen damage. One of the purple panes shattered in 2014, less than a year after the sculpture's arrival at the park.

The Olafur Eliasson sculpture "panoramic awareness pavilion" was vandalized overnight Wednesday at the Pappajohn Sculpture Park in Des Moines. In total, six glass panels were shattered.
The Olafur Eliasson sculpture "panoramic awareness pavilion" was vandalized overnight Wednesday at the Pappajohn Sculpture Park in Des Moines. In total, six glass panels were shattered.

Unlike the custom-made coppery glass panels at the Des Moines Public Library's Central Library, which break from time to time, no duplicates exist for the sculpture. Around the Fourth of July, several glass panes at the Des Moines Public Library were damaged by fireworks.

Previously, replacement panels for the sculptwere made at the artist's studio in Berlin and then shipped to Des Moines.

The sculpture was dedicated in 2013, and includes gaps between some of the panels to invite "its audience to enter, explore and engage with the work from within the structure," according to the Greater Des Moines Public Art Foundation.

The Olafur Eliasson sculpture "panoramic awareness pavilion" was vandalized overnight Wednesday at the Pappajohn Sculpture Park in Des Moines. In total, six glass panels were shattered.
The Olafur Eliasson sculpture "panoramic awareness pavilion" was vandalized overnight Wednesday at the Pappajohn Sculpture Park in Des Moines. In total, six glass panels were shattered.

"Viewed from the outside, the work presents a circular color spectrum interrupted by fragmentary perspectives of the surrounding sculpture park," the sculpture's description says. "At night, a fresnel lamp mounted on a tripod at the center of the sculpture illuminates the work from within, creating a kaleidoscopic rainbow effect and interacting with the city lights beyond."

Grace Altenhofen is a news reporter for the Des Moines Register. She can be reached at galtenhofen@registermedia.com or on Twitter @gracealtenhofen.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Sculpture at Pappajohn Sculpture Park vandalized Wednesday