The Button (sculpture)

• Total cost: $100,000 including transportation and installation ($37,500 from University, $37,500 from the National Endowment for the Arts, and $25,000 in contributions raised by Mrs. H. Gates Lloyd, chair of the Visual Environment Committee that chose the piece.)
• Weight: 5000 lb (approx. 2,270 kg)
• Materials: Reinforced aluminum
• Size: 16 ft (4.89 m) diameter

When The Button was installed in front of the Van Pelt Library on June 18, 1981, it was met with much controversy. Some students found the structure intrusive, and a poor addition to College Green. Controversy surrounding the piece has subsided in the years since 1981, but either way, it is now a central landmark and focal point of campus.[1]

In The Simpsons, The Button can be seen on the college green of fictional Springfield University as Homer performs in a Nirvana-like band in the episode "That 90's Show".

A legend exists, mainly circulated by students at the University of Pennsylvania, that attributes The Button to the university's founder, Benjamin Franklin. A monument of a seated Franklin stands near the sculpture; legend has it that when this man of considerable girth sat down, his vest button popped off and rolled across the University's Locust Walk. It eventually came to a stop and split into two—hence becoming today's sculpture.[2]

Oldenburg, however, presents an alternative view. He once said "The Split represents the Schuylkill. It divides the button into four parts—for William Penn's original Philadelphia squares." [3]

The Button lends its name to a Penn satire blog, Under the Button.

• List of public art in Philadelphia