Digital DNA is a public art project commissioned by the Palo Alto Public Arts Commission for Lytton Plaza in downtown Palo Alto, California. It was created by Adriana Varella and Nilton Maltz and installed in 2005. Digital DNA addresses complicated themes of technology and public space in Silicon Valley. In 2018, the sculpture was removed from the plaza and was later installed outside of the i-Lab at Harvard Business School.
Digital DNA recognizes Palo Alto (indeed, the HP garage) as the birthplace of the Silicon Valley and the computer revolution. At the same time, the sculpture poses challenging questions about what it means to live and work in the Silicon Valley where every day companies determine and produce new technologies and make decisions that profoundly change the DNA of both it and every other society on the globe.
Commission
The Palo Alto Public Arts Commission is primarily funded by the Palo Alto City Council and aims to beautify the city and support (often emerging) contemporary artists while contributing to the cultural life of the community. In 2000, the seven member Commission approved the modern artwork Digital DNA for the plaza on the corner of University Avenue and Emerson Street.
Lytton Plaza
Lytton Plaza was created by Lytton Savings on a vacant lot next to the former Savings and Loan. During the 1960s, the plaza was the site of free rock concerts, noise complaints, anti-war demonstrations, and confrontations with police. The plaza was eventually purchased by the City of Palo Alto.
Design
Digital DNA is a seven-foot-tall (by five feet across) egg-shaped sculpture made of welded steel and recycled computer silicon circuit boards applied to polystyrene bead foam with an epoxy fiberglass skin, and finished with UV resistant polyurethane clear automotive paint. Sewn into the surface are phrases relating to technology in many languages (Arabic, Russian, French, Italian, Portuguese, Japanese, etc.). It goes deeper into branching, but above all into the origins of what comes to be the adventure of computers. Therefore, through phrases like: "Circuits of Power", "Ideological Circuits", "Warfare Circuits", "Borderless Circuits", "Sexual Circuits", "Colonizing Circuits", "Genetic Circuits, etc, trying to simplistically verify, even if it is a glimpse of consciousness, one of the main tools-objects of our contemporary world.
The "egg" is meant to recognize Palo Alto as the birthplace of Silicon Valley. Linda Craighead, Palo Alto Arts Center Director, feels that the work represents "the power of technology to bring the world together." Varella said of the design, "I don't want to preach truths, just trigger ideas. Lovers of Digital DNA say: "Digital DNA is the Identity of Palo Alto."
History and controversies
Thrown out with trash
Digital DNA was commissioned in 2000. In 2001, while moving from Palo Alto to San Francisco Varella used her shared garage to store unattached pieces of the artwork. Her neighbor mistook the unfinished work for junk, and threw it out. Varella lost six months of work.
The installation of the piece was originally scheduled for May 8, 2004, but was delayed due to changes in city policy regarding the hiring of city vendors. By June an installer had been hired, and Digital DNA was ready to be installed; however, a conflicting plan for the complete redesign of the plaza had been made public. Former Palo Alto mayor Leland Levy and real estate developer Roxy Rapp proposed a $500,000 revitalization of Lytton plaza. The design featured a central fountain, but did not include Digital DNA.
On June 17, the Palo Alto Public Art Commission held a meeting to discuss the future of Digital DNA in relation to the fountain plan. Levy and Rapp requested that the installation of the artwork be further delayed until their proposal was formally presented to the City Council. The Commission unanimously voted to study the fountain plan, but also reiterated their desire for the immediate installation of Digital DNA.
Destroyed by fire
Following the vote, Arts and Culture Director Leon Kaplan, the city employee overseeing the project, made a shocking announcement. About a month prior, on May 19, there had been a fire in the San Bruno warehouse where Digital DNA was being stored. 11 days after the original installation date, Digital DNA was completely destroyed.
Because the fire occurred after the installation of Digital DNA had been delayed by city staff, some public officials blamed its loss on city employees. Varella hired an attorney to investigate the city's liability for the loss. Suspicions rose that the fire had been masterminded to allow the fountain plan to move forward.