Bruce Nauman’s Stadium Piece has been on Westerns campus since 1980. Thousands of students have seen and have interacted with massive structure. Below is photography centered on the piece, through the eyes of two Western students.

By, Finn Donnelly and Tanner Thompson

By, Finn Donnelly

By, Finn Donnelly

By, Finn Donnelly

Statement:

Of all my visits to the Stadium Piece by Bruce Nauman, I discovered that every encounter I had with the piece relayed a new piece of information to me. The first visit only disseminated the blank, dull, hunk of concrete in which I was supposed to do a project on. The next visit I actually sat upon the sculpture and read, it relayed the interactive and responsive uses of the sculpture, it used it’s strong and smooth edges to become the tool in which responded to the audience. It plays to the experience that is Stadium Piece, an interactive sculpture that invites the audience to understand the presence of it’s figure in a new and imaginative way, whether that is cowering underneath it amidst a rainstorm, sunbathing atop it on a nice day or just seeking a place to sit. The very last time I visited the piece was to photograph it, I no longer felt vulnerable in its presence, I was familiar with it. When taking these photos I wanted to bring forth this idea of interaction over a spectrum of time, I chose to do so by highlighting the stark shadows and hard edges that make up the presence of this sculpture. I hope these images convey to the audience the interaction and experience that is created within this piece. I attempted to capture the residual effect of interaction upon this piece.

By, Tanner Thomspon

By, Tanner Thompson

By, Tanner Thompson

Statement:

Bruce Naumans Stadium piece is one of the significant works of art thats located on campus, in my eyes. I’ve always passed it going to class in the Communications Facility and I have had lots of memories associated with it. I visited numerous times for this project thinking more and more on why Bruce Nauman made it. In my eyes it is truly a piece that is meant for people to interact with. Its a huge structure emulating stadium stairs, its in the most prominent part of south campus, and I see so many people sitting on it and interacting with it everyday. I had this one memory with the structure that inspired my pictures. It was a fun and cold walkthrough campus at night with my friends. We stopped at the structure before heading home. We just stood on the stairs, talked about college/life and taking in how beautiful the view of school is at night. Stadium piece definitely will stick around in my mind and many students minds after leaving Western Washington University.