The Mechanical Alphabet
47 foot Mosaic and Steel Mural
Oakland BART station, 2003
At the BART subway station in Oakland CA the “Mechanical Alphabet” was designed for a building that stored bicycles for commuters. It had scientific and educational aspects based on the 5 elements that are required to put a machine into motion – the wedge, the winch, the pulley, the screw and the lever. Some machines only have one, but a simple bicycle has all 5 elements. The text in the work is written in the three languages spoken by the surrounding communities who use the Fruitvale BART station.
