A curving masonry block wall created by Mexican artist Héctor Zamora currently graces the rooftop terrace of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, which recently re-opened to the public after several months of COVID-19-related closures. 

The installation is built from hundreds of extruded terracotta blocks "made of Mexican earth" that are stacked 11 feet high. The curving barrier is composed of blocks that have been turned on their side, exposing the complex patterning of the extrusion process used to create the units. This change in orientation allows for what would normally be seen as a solid mass to offer fragmented views through the barrier onto the surrounding landscape, be it the leafy trees in Central Park or the concrete, glass, and stone-wrapped towers that surround the museum. 

A press release highlighting the installation tells us that the installation works to "create a response in viewers that communicates the impact of barriers: thwarting access to open, expansive outlooks on the world." The curving shape of the wall helps to further achieve this goal by turning the gaze to specific vistas while blocking out other views using elements of the wall that appear opaque as the wall bends. 

Sheena Wagstaff, The Met’s Leonard A. Lauder Chairman of Modern and Contemporary Art, who helped conceive the installation alongside the artist, explains that the work asks "the visitor to navigate a barrier to the open view beyond the parapet," while also offering a "poetic metaphor writ large, and a critique of the social, political, and economic considerations inherent in its making.” 

The installation will be on view through December 7, 2020.