Permanent Installation of Large-Scale Work by Renowned Cal Alumnus Marks Latest Addition to UC Berkeley’s Vibrant Public Art Landscape

(Berkeley, CA) April 14, 2026—The Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive announced today that it has installed a major sculpture by Mark di Suvero on the UC Berkeley campus. Mamma Mobius (2018) will permanently reside on UC Berkeley’s Crescent Lawn, located across from BAMPFA at the edge of Downtown Berkeley, where it will serve as a welcoming entry point to the western perimeter of the campus. The sculpture was recently acquired by BAMPFA from di Suvero himself, one of the most significant abstract sculptors of the twentieth century and a member of UC Berkeley’s Class of 1957.

Inspired by the mathematical concept of the Mobius strip—a surface with only one side and one edge—Mamma Mobius is a curved steel sculpture that consists of a combination of dense and open swirls rendered in the artist’s signature shade of orange-red. The piece harkens back to di Suvero’s initial experiments with cold-bent steel in the 1960s, with a curvilinear form that is distinct from the more hard-edged sculptures for which he is best known. 

Mamma Mobius is the third artwork from BAMPFA’s collection to be installed on the Crescent Lawn, where it will be displayed alongside Alexander Calder’s The Hawk for Peace (1968) and Arnaldo Pomodoro’s Sphere Within a Sphere (1969). Its installation marks a major new addition to the public art landscape of the UC Berkeley campus, and one of the most significant contributions by a Cal graduate to the university’s public art. Di Suvero, who currently resides in the North Bay, will visit Berkeley to formally inaugurate the sculpture next month.

“To welcome Mark di Suvero's Mamma Mobius to the Crescent Lawn is both a homecoming and a testament to the pathbreaking spirit that UC Berkeley fosters. Di Suvero’s iconic large-scale welded steel sculptures have made him one of the most important living American sculptors, fusing art, engineering, and science. With Mamma Mobius, he returns to the university where his artistic journey began nearly seventy years ago,” said BAMPFA’s Executive Director, Julie Rodrigues Widholm. “We're honored to steward this work for future generations of students, scholars, and visitors whiledeepening a connection between BAMPFA's art collection and the public life of this campus.”

About the Artist

Mark di Suvero is one of most significant post-WWII American artists emerging from the Abstract Expressionist movement, with sixty years of monumental and abstract sculptural artworks many of which are in the highest profile museum collections around the world and numerous public installations. Di Suvero received the Lifetime Achievement Award in Contemporary Sculpture from the International Sculpture Center in 2000 and the Heinz Award for Arts and Humanities in 2005. In 2010, he was a recipient of the Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art Medal, and he received the National Medal of the Arts from President Barack Obama. In 2013, di Suvero received the American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal for Sculpture.

About BAMPFA

Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive ignites cultural change for a more inclusive and artistic world. BAMPFA has been uniquely dedicated to art and film since 1970, with international programming that is locally connected and globally relevant. It holds more than 25,000 artworks and 18,000 films and videos in its collection, with particular strengths in modern and contemporary art and historical Chinese painting, as well as the world’s largest collection of African American quilts. As part of the University of California, Berkeley, BAMPFA is committed to artistic diversity through its robust slate of art exhibitions, film screenings, artist talks, live performances, and educational programs that shed new light on the art of the past and connect our audiences with leading filmmakers and artists of our time. BAMPFA sits on the edge of campus and downtown Berkeley, where it welcomes visitors from across and beyond the Bay Area in a repurposed building designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro.

Sponsorship

Museum purchase made possible by lead support from the Fisher Family, The Lipman Family Foundation, The Alex Katz Foundation, and Robert Stobo. Additional support provided by Mr. and Mrs. Thomas W. Smith and Robin Wright and Ian Reeves.