While this tc: temporary contemporary project has been up for a little while, its significance is still vastly apparent. On the exterior wall of the Bass Museum of Art, Stefan Brüggemann has installed a textual work that reads “(THIS IS NOT SUPPOSED TO BE HERE).” As an open-ended work, the interpretations of what “THIS” constitutes are endless: it could refer to the building or the artwork itself.

But this tc: temporary contemporary project is unique in that it gives the building a voice. For pedestrians strolling down the block through a canyon of condo buildings, each building seems to be part of natural landscape or cityscape. One is accustomed to such buildings, and it does not take long before these constructions are taken for granted. Brüggemann’s work, however, abruptly halts this train of thought, in that it calls a pedestrian’s attention to his or her surroundings. Instead of being simply another building on Collins Avenue, the Bass Museum of Art structure calls attention to its own status as a man-made object. By doing so, this work creates an intervention by potentially changing the way a viewer considers a building. This work exemplifies our tc: temporary contemporary program by placing a work of art in an unconventional location—the outside of a museum building—and by provoking a viewer to think differently about his or her surroundings.