Scope serves both as an outdoor room and as a signifier for the varieties of knowledge pursued within the adjacent buildings. Graphic references to forensics, medicine, and pedagogy comprise the walls of the openwork conical form. The allusions are alternately clear and arcane, well-known and subtle: a human heart and brain are anchored by a long chain of DNA; a neuron intermingles with an EKG, which in turn is echoed by the Tulsa skyline; Platonic solids tumble amongst molecules for caffeine, alcohol and glucose.

The central location of the sculpture with its copious seating options—a plaza between a college specializing in medicine and forensics education, and a police forensics laboratory—encourages conviviality. Viewers looking up from beneath the sculpture may draw parallels between our interest in the expansive mysteries of the universe and our quest for concrete knowledge here on earth.

Scope was fabricated by Junoworks, Denver, CO