How Cambridge Arts Cares For 280+ Public Artworks

Monday, March 17, 2025

Repairs made to a public art display in Cambridge.

You may not know that the City of Cambridge approved a Percent-for-Art ordinance in 1979. Cambridge’s ordinance requires that no less than 1 percent of government construction budgets be set aside for creating site-responsive public artwork. Cambridge is one the few communities in Massachusetts with this statutory commitment to public art and City staff devoted to its care. As a result, Cambridge has the largest municipal collection of contemporary public art in the region—and there are maintenance responsibilities that come with that.

Outdoor public artworks face a range of challenges that can be surprisingly different from those inside the carefully controlled galleries of museums—rust, gum, spills, graffiti, storms and even truck accidents.

The exhibition -- “Rust Happen(s): Caring for the Public Art Collection" – was unveiled in March 2024 and told the stories of how individual murals, mosaics and sculptures are cared for by Cambridge Arts. It documented the annual repair of worn gold leaf on Konstantin Simun’s bronze tribute to Igor Fokin’s puppet DooDoo, which was created as a memorial to Fokin at the spot in Harvard Square where Fokin regularly performed before his death in 1996. The exhibition also shared how wood beams were replaced in Vusumuzi Maduna’s “Inner City Totem I” sculpture after they rotted from being outside for four decades.

“Rust Happen(s)" highlighted the ingenuity and science and careful effort Cambridge Arts’ conservation team, led by Director of Art Conservation Craig Uram, uses to maintain these community treasures for the future. The exhibition featured tools of the trade—brushes, solvents, wax and patina kits, gold-leafing tent, ladders, syringes, vacuums, pressure washers, graffiti removers, bio-enzymatic urine digester.

Cambridge Arts is always grateful to hear from residents or visitors who notice public art that has been damaged or gone missing. They also appreciate when people share their observations of their favorite public art sites. A hope was for this exhibition to prompt thoughts about the important role the community plays in ensuring art is an integral part of our public space.

How Cambridge Arts Cares For 280+ Public Artworks

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