Glove Cycle, Installation artwork at Porter station in Cambridge, United States.
Glove Cycle is a public art installation made up of bronze glove sculptures placed throughout Porter Station on the Red Line in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The pieces appear at different levels of the station, from the platforms to the escalators and the mezzanine.
The work was chosen in 1984 as part of the Arts on the Line program, which was set up to bring art into new transit stations being built along the Red Line. It was selected from more than 400 submitted proposals, making the selection process notably competitive.
The bronze gloves are arranged in small groupings that suggest everyday gestures, as if passengers had just set them down or left them behind. People who slow down long enough to look closely often notice details they would have missed at a hurried glance.
The sculptures are spread across several levels of the station, so it helps to allow extra time and move through each area without rushing. Visiting outside of peak commuting hours gives you more space to stop and look without blocking the flow of other passengers.
Several of the original bronze gloves went missing in the years after the installation opened, taken by passersby rather than simply lost. This makes Glove Cycle one of the few transit artworks where the act of removal became part of its story.
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