This sculpture was commissioned after a competition for the design. The Library Foundation wanted a piece of public outdoor sculpture suggesting the intersection between Art & Science. I thought what better way to illustrate that intersection than to incorporate the words of a literary device, developed by Greek playwrights into the sculpture; Deus Ex Machina.

When the Greek writers had developed a story line resulting in an unsolvable dilemma, they would lower a deity from above and that character would solve the problem immediately. This device has been carried forward by other writers including Shakespeare, Baum, Asimov  and the writers for Star Trek.

 The writers of an episode of Star Trek used Deus Ex Machina to solve the inherent difficulty with the Transporter allowing people’s molecules to be disassembled and then reassembled elsewhere. The dilemma was solved by ship’s engineer, Mr. Scott. When asked how was it possible to transport with this device he pointed casually to a machine and said…The Heisenberg Compensator. Creative device, creative compensation.

On the opposite side of the ring the words Ego & Eigenstate appear. Everyone is familiar with Ego, everyone has an ego but some are larger than others.

The word Eigenstate may not be as familiar. It was coined by Werner Heisenberg, an important physicist. The word describes Uncertainty at the quantum level. Because I have a poetic license in my wallet I will suggest that at our macro level, the one we inhabit, the metaphor is I’m uncertain. A library may be one of best places to visit if one is uncertain. Answers may be found inside.

I knew I had done my job properly one morning while installing a separate disconnect switch for the LED lighting system. Two young boys came running up to the piece. The older one ran through the Ring but his younger brother stopped and said, Hey, wait up I have to say the magic word. He whispered something and then ran through.

Their mother was following behind and stopped to ask me…Do you know who made this? I said that I had. She said that they come to the library almost everyday and her younger son does the same thing each time. She said, We love this and we love this library.