RIT's long-frozen Mobius comes to life, kudos to engineering students

Slowly it turns . . . On a chilly, gray day, a crowd gathered on the academic quad to see RIT's Jose de Rivera sculpture restored to life.

A campus monument moves again, thanks to a helping hand from mechanical engineering students.

Members of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers rebuilt the motor thatmakes Jose de Rivera's "Construction #105"revolve. It was switched on during a Feb. 17 celebration of National Engineers Week.

Mark Mallette, a fifth-year mechanical engineering student and officer of ASME, organized the effort. "We really wanted to get ASME involved in some projects on campus, get younger students involved," he said. The group began the work in Fall Quarter.

The sculpture was created for the RIT site and installed when the campus opened in 1968, according to Peter Giopulos, professor of art, who talked about the sculpture at the Feb. 17 ceremony. De Rivera (1904 -1985) often incorporated the Mobius strip (a form with only one side, created by giving a narrow strip a half twist before closing the loop) in his work. Giopulos explained that de Rivera became well known for his sculptures exploring "motion, light, material and space."

The rotation of the loop creates forms continuously altered by time and space. The RIT piece resembles de Rivera's "Infinity," located outside the Museum of History and Technology, part of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

"With an understanding of the art, we can appreciate what these students have done," Giopulos said.

No one seems to know exactly when the mechanism ground to a halt, but it has beenat least a decade since the sculpture moved. "The whole problem was, it wasn't designed for the weather," Mallette said. The engineering students rebuilt it virtually from scratch. Mallette hopes the robust new design will keep the sculpture in motion for years to come.

The pace could be described as stately; the sculpture revolves 12 times an hour. In fact, people rushing back and forth across the quad might not even notice the subtle motion. But there are benches nearby and the piece invites moments of quiet reflection.

"It offers the opportunity for us to participate," says Giopulos.