Question: What happened to that broken blue teeter-totter that used to be by Old Main?
The controversial teeter-totter (Does it teet, or does it tot?) or "Grown-up Seesaw" as the artist behind the work, Laddie Pepke, likes to call it, disappeared suddenly from its home near Old Main. Just like that - poof - it's gone.
Almost immediately after it was installed last year, it was vandalized. And judging by the damage, it took one massive overload to take it out of commission. You can't really blame the seesaw for wanting to relocate after that.
It remained on the west side of Old Main since the "accident," until it mysteriously vanished, perhaps never to be seen again.
So I started digging for a tip. Anything. I needed something. Thankfully, Ryan Burke, a political sciences senior, came to the rescue. A first lead, an unreliable lead. I took it.
"I heard they were going to place it somewhere on the Alumni Plaza," he said.
Do the alumni know about this plan of turning their sacred plaza into a playground?
Inspired by this turn of events, I dialed the digits of Charles Guerin, director of the UA Museum of Art and head of the Committee for Public Art. If anybody knew where art on this campus was going, it'd be him.
"Not gonna be there," Guerin stated. So the Alumni Plaza isn't the sculpture's new home.
Shucks.
So where did the sculpture go? Pepke won the Centennial Sculpture competition enabling him to sign a contract, get some cash, Guerin said, and have the honor of setting up and taking down the artwork - by himself. His one-year contract was set to expire.
Apparently, sometime in the past few weeks, in the middle of the night, Pepke came and removed the sculpture. Or at least I think it was the middle of the night. It could have been one morning.
Still, the current whereabouts of our friend Mr. Seesaw are unknown. And for that matter, I can't seem to find Pepke either.
What could Pepke have to hide? Why didn't he answer my phone calls? Where is the seesaw, anyways? I want answers! I need answers! Case, definitely not, closed.
- Investigation by Detective Kris Cabulong
The campus detective is desperate for work! If you've got a UA-related mystery or conspiracy, e-mail him at campus@wildcat.arizona.edu.