look, but don't touch.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/visualart/301331_park27.html


this article poached in its entirety without permission:

Olympic Sculpture Park: It's not a hands-on experience

By REGINA HACKETT
P-I ART CRITIC

After the Seattle Art Museum thanks everybody for pouring in to its
Olympic Sculpture Park, it wants a word with certain people about
their manners.

Eraser
A Critic's Tour of the Park:
Regina Hackett visits and critiques the Olympic Sculpture Park in
this multimedia feature

Make that a few words: Keep your greasy hands off the sculpture.

Don't take it personally. From a sculpture's point of view,
everybody's hands are covered in oil.

To date, Richard Serra's 300-ton, Corten steel sculpture, "Wake," has
attracted the most finger marks, along with small scuff marks from
kicks delivered low by little feet.

Nicholas Dorman, SAM's chief conservator, power-washed the prints and
scuffs off the sculpture Sunday morning, after a people-packed
Saturday opening.

"Wake" now is surrounded with admonishments not to touch it, and the
volume of touches has dropped substantially, said Dorman.

"We want to be friendly and positive," he said, "but we're
encouraging people to think before they touch, as touching art has
consequences."

Sarah Clark-Langager, director of the gallery and sculpture park at
Western Washington University in Bellingham, said that asking people
not to touch outdoor sculpture isn't realistic.

"There's absolutely nothing you can do about it," she said. "Some of
us come from a museum world, in which the public is not allowed to
touch anything. That works inside but not out. We can hope that
people learn to treat outdoor sculpture with respect. When I'm giving
students tours, I ask them if they'd want someone to write on their
cars."