Kennedy Center removing landmark sculpture from grounds

The Kennedy Center is set to take down a towering sculpture from the center’s grounds on Wednesday.

The artwork’s removal comes amid a wave of changes at the renowned Washington performing arts center during President Trump’s second term.

The 24-foot aluminum sculpture, named “Blue,” was gifted to the center in 2019. The art, which was created by famed American postminimalist sculptor Joel Shapiro, depicts a human stick figure “poised in mid-kick,” according to the Kennedy Center’s description .

The National Park Service implemented a temporary road closure starting early Wednesday morning to facilitate the removal, according to a public notice .

The sculpture is located along the Video Wall at the REACH, a $250 million addition to the center that opened in 2019. The project is an acronym of renew, experience, activate, create and honor — words meant to encapsulate former President Kennedy’s “vision for a new frontier for the arts,” the center’s website explains.

The center directed the sculpture’s removal, and its relocation will be determined by a foundation dedicated to the artist, a spokesperson for the performing arts venue told The Hill.

“We are deeply grateful to Joel Shapiro for the years ‘Blue’ has spent animating our campus and connecting visitors to his vision,” the spokesperson said. “We are honored to have been stewards of his vibrant work and a part of his enduring legacy.”

They also noted that gifted or loaned artworks are frequently deinstalled at art institutions across the world.

The removal of “Blue” comes amid a backdrop of tension over the Trump administration’s efforts to renovate the Kennedy Center.

The president’s push to have his name inscribed on the performing arts center’s sign and shut down the venue for restoration projects has resulted in an ongoing legal battle. Ohio Rep. Joyce Beatty (D), an ex officio Kennedy Center board member, has sued to halt the changes.

In federal court on Thursday, the Justice Department defended the administration’s efforts to add Trump’s name to the building and claimed the iconic arts center was in “structural and financial disarray.”

Beatty’s lawyer, Nathaniel Zelinsky, accused the center’s current board members of engaging in “outright defiance” of the court and argued that the institution was now in “crisis” because of this renaming effort.