On Thu, 4 Apr 1996, Eric Siegel wrote:

>    (snip) .... It stuck in my head,
>    not for the aesthetic pleasure, but because I had never before
>    encountered the idea that artists would intentionally work with
>    transient materials.

The Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco (where the Exploratorium is
located) was orginally designed for World's Fair.  The architect chose to
use materials that would disintegrate over time in order to make a point
about the classical imagery he was using and the passage of time--or
something like this (as I remember...) But as they started to fall apart,
the citizens of SF couldn't let go of them and raised money for their
restoration.  Anyone know more about this and want to share as my memory
is shaky on this.

Lisa Falk
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