Contact: Susan Pontious 415-252-2587

“Split Mound,” a new and permanent interactive sculpture at the renovated San Francisco Zoo, invites visitors of all ages to reflect on the importance of habitat and the interdependence of all species. Southern California artists Barbara McCarren and Jud Fine have created a large mound-shaped earthwork featuring an exterior cover of coastal plants, a meandering open air walkway through the structure, and a variety of interior pieces designed to educate, engage and challenge viewers.

On one wall, the artists’ version of the Rosetta Stone — a black granite “zooetta stone” engraved with animal images — presents a code to be cracked by identifying each image and its initial letter. The letters spell out a quote by Victor Hugo, engraved on the wall opposite the stone and reflecting the theme of the entire work.

“In the relation of man with the animals there is a great ethic which will at length break forth into light.”

The images are from three eras — contemporary, historic, and archaic — showing the different ways in which humans have made use of animal imagery to communicate ideas.

Dominating the mound’s center, where the three parts of the walkway meet, is a circular granite and marble map of the prehistoric continental land mass Pangaea, representing the earth’s continuing geographical evolution.

Another wall is studded with brightly painted bronze sculptures of frog and toad species from throughout the world. The artists selected the amphibians for their vulnerability to environmental change and the impacts of manmade progress. On another wall, porcelain enamel images of famous exploratory ships, from the 16th-century Golden Hind to Darwin’s H.M.S. Beagle and the Costeau Society’s present-day vessel Calypso, demonstrate evolving technologies in zoological collection and study through the years.

Other elements in “Split Mound” are a pair of stainless steel mirrors, allowing viewers to make themselves the subjects of observation, and two viewing cylinders.

McCarren and Fine recently collaborated on a commission for the Venice Beach Ocean Front Walk Refurbishment Project. McCarren is a past recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Visual Artists Fellowship, and her work is represented in the permanent collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Fine’s work is included in the permanent collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Los Angeles County Museum of Contemporary Art, the Berkeley Museum of Art, and other museums.

The team was commissioned by the San Francisco Arts Commission, in collaboration with the San Francisco Zoo, under the city’s art enrichment ordinance, which, for any new or renovated civic construction project, provides for an art enrichment allocation equivalent to two percent of the project’s construction budget. The southern California team was selected by an independent panel from a pool of approximately 200 applicants from the western states.