The event was a huge success, with hundreds of people turning up to see Tufte’s sculptures ranging in size from about 1 foot to about 100 feet. Tufte had reworked the landscape of the museum’s backyard for seven months, doing extensive earthmoving and planting some big trees. The outdoor sculptures are a bit crowded but still very effective. It would be good to see some of them moved to Storm King Art Center and given more space.

There are some other good things to see at the Aldrich museum right now, including an exhibit of Nikon, Hasselblad, and Leica cameras built out of scraps and trash.

The Tufte sculptures are the highlights. My favorites are some smaller works that he has made with scrap multi-size wrenches and the bigger works that divide space. There were a lot of kids delightedly wandering around amid the nooks and crannies of the rectangular stainless steel “Escaping Flatland” sculptures. One might not have expected that given that the sculptures have a flat modern high-tech look.

A couple of New York Times reporters were there interviewing people for a long story on the influence of Edward Tufte. It should appear some time in August.

The Visual Display of Quantitative Information

…was a reference manual used in support of cockpit display formats in the ’80’s.

I’m in the L.A. area otherwise I’d be there for sure. If you know Edward Tufte, tell him his ideas are “flying around”

Paul Pencikowski
Principal Designer
Display Formats & Operational Logic System
B-2 Bomber (pre-proposal to CDR)

What sort of feelings do these sculptures evoke from you? I really don’t understand what these works exemplify.
I truly would like to hear/read other’s opinions on these exhibits.