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Harry Bertoia Gets His Moment

The city of Detroit is experiencing a significant Harry Bertoia revival, centered around the rediscovery and restoration of a massive 26-foot suspended sculpture. Originally commissioned in 1970 for a Michigan mall and long presumed lost or destroyed during building demolitions, the steel-wire and brass work was found languishing in a basement in 2017. Following an extensive restoration process, the monumental piece has been installed in General Motors' new global headquarters at the historic Hudson’s site, a feat that required complex engineering and a five-story opening in the building's facade.

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A long-lost 1970 Harry Bertoia hanging sculpture, commissioned for a mall in Flint, Michigan, has been restored and installed in the atrium of General Motors’ new global headquarters in Detroit. The 26-foot-tall work, made of brazed steel rods in Bertoia's signature "sunlit straw" technique, was discovered in 2017 in the basement of a demolished mall, damaged and covered in dust. The city of Southfield purchased it, and after extensive restoration, it now hangs in GM’s Hudson’s Detroit building.