The big, black minimalist square gets wrapped in a fuzzy, pink crocheted snugglie. Street crafter Olek wrapped Bernard Rosenthal’s Alamo (1967) in Union Square yesterday, October 3, 2011. You can see her and her team’s stealth work in the video here. It was left in place for just a few hours before being cut off. 

The cube, which spins on its diagonal axis, has been the site of various transformations: turned into a Rubix cube in 2003 by a group named All Too Flat (see the process here) and covered with LED throwies in 2006 during Graffiti Research Lab event (see the video with Tribe Called Quest soundtrack here).

I think temporary projects should be planned for all forms of public art in order to keep the art relevant. Such non-invasive transformations bring the works into dialogue with contemporary culture and, thus, provoke thinking about the historical significance of the original work. Funding for punctuated projects should be included as part of the “up-keep” budget under the line “conceptual repairs.”