Controversial Oppenheim Sculpture Finds New Home

VANCOUVER—A controversial Dennis Oppenheim sculpture, which Vancouver officials voted to remove from its Harbour Green Park earlier this year, has found a new home in Calgary, reports the Globe and Mail.

Device to Root Out Evil, originally unveiled at the Venice Biennale in 1997, has been on view in the park since the Vancouver Sculpture Biennale of 2005-07, but encountered opposition from neighbors who complained the six meter-square sculpture of an inverted church with its steeple planted into the ground blocked their view of the harbor. Previously the work had raised eyebrows for its subject matter, with Oppenheim's alma mater Stanford University declining to exhibit it because of its controversial nature.

Now the work, which is owned by Benefic Group, a Vancouver philanthropy-focused law firm, is going to the Glenbow Museum in Calgary. Details of its installation have not yet been announced.

Oppenheim said he was surprised to hear the work would be leaving Vancouver, but added: "I think Calgary looks as if it's going to become a major Canadian art city, so in that respect I'm quite pleased that it's going there."