Artist Elyn Zimmerman’s 1984 Marabar sculpture has been officially rededicated on the campus of Washington, D.C.’s American University after a yearslong preservation effort spearheaded by The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF).

A reconfiguration of the site-specific 225-ton granite sculpture was installed next to the school’s Kay Spiritual Life Center over the last year after being moved from the courtyard surrounding the National Geographic Society headquarters in order to make room for a new plaza expansion designed by Hickock Cole and OLIN.

TCLF President Charles Birnbaum said: “Though we regret the loss of Marabar at its original location, we are pleased that its creator, artist Elyn Zimmerman, with the support of National Geographic, retained the ability to control its reconfiguration and relocation to the American University campus. Had TCLF not intervened beginning in March 2020, when the artist was resigned to the loss of one of her most important works, Zimmerman's installation would likely have been demolished.”

Indeed, as the New York Times pointed out recently, major landscape art pieces are rarely moved or altered, often spurring theoretical questions in the process. Zimmerman told the paper that the new site “indicated a different vocabulary.” After repositioning the stones, the sculpture was given a new moniker — Sudama — after a 3rd-century Indian granite cave described in E.M. Forster's A Passage to India.

Restorative polishing was also a key element of the project, removing 40 years of wear and tear while granting what is Zimmerman’s first large-scale installation a new life in its second home. 

“You could say that it’s been revived, and make an analogy with the theater,” Birnbaum also told the Times. “This is a happy occasion, like a great revival where the original artist is reconceiving the work in a different context, just as playwrights have done for many decades.”

It’s interesting to note that not only was the artwork saved, but Zimmerman had near-complete artistic control over how it was reconfigured. Such a case is rare in the history of American public art, and could, in the future, set a precedent for the way contested monuments, architectural relics, and other site-specific works are handled by institutions. 

“They stepped up, and they did the right thing,” Zimmerman added finally, speaking of the resolution. “I’m very grateful.”