The sculpture “Star-Crossed” by Nancy Holt, is behind the art museum in Oxford Ohio. Sometimes, between classes I like to hike my way up to the museum and sit in the top of the sculpture (like many people apparently, as there’s garbage all around it, sadly). It’s a fun piece, something you can climb in and on, really interact with, a big contrast to the pieces inside the museum, which are behind glass and you wouldn’t DARE touch. It reminds me of a rain tunnel (I may have made that term up); the big tunnels that collect the runoff rain from streets and send it funneling into the sewer. Some of the big ones look mysterious, and passing them by on the side of the street you kind of feel an urge to go in them and see where they lead to. Maybe they lead to some river deep in the forest where all the rain tunnels end at. But maybe doing that is probably dangerous. Star-Crossed allows you to somewhat experience that, by walking through a big tunnel going through the big mound of dirt in the center, and climb up the smaller tunnel sitting on the top. The interactivity with the piece also makes it seem like a jungle gym, or some kind of climbing structure you would find in a play ground, but instead of colorfully painted aluminum, it’s concrete and dirt (perhaps an adult play ground). Otherwise being a fun sculpture to climb, I have no idea what it’s supposed to mean. The shallow concrete “pool” at the back of the sculpture, and at the mouth of the smaller tunnel leading upwards, is a mystery to me. It’s full of garbage now, but I’m sure it has a purpose that involves the overall meaning of the piece. Maybe I’m wrong and the only intention is for it to be a piece you can interact with, simple as that. Sure the name might hint at something, but I want it to remain mysterious.
