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Downtown art exhibit damaged by masked vandal, police say
The person tore the 150-pound satellite from the exhibit and dragged it on the ground before fleeing, police said.
A sculpture in downtown Boston designed to like a space satellite crashed onto a car was damaged when a masked person pulled the replica satellite off the hood of the vehicle and dragged it before fleeing, police said.
“Alouette,” a sculpture by Canadian Brandon Vickerd, is a Nissan Altima parked on Washington Street in Downtown Crossing. Complete with a parking ticket, the sculpture included a replica of the 1962 Canadian satellite Alouette, appearing as if it crashed onto the hood of the parked car, according to Vickerd.
Police responded to the sculpture Wednesday morning, where a witness told police that a man wearing a black face covering, a black and white hat, a black puffer jacket, and tan work boots had vandalized “Alouette” around 10:15 a.m., according to a police report obtained by Boston.com.
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The unknown person “tore the satellite off the hood of the vehicle and dragged it across the ground before fleeing the scene. The bracket for the satellite was broken and the mount on the hood where it was attached was stripped,” the report said.
Vickerd told Boston.com in an interview that the satellite replica weighs between 150 and 200 pounds.
“It’s actually secured through a metal armature to the frame of the car, so whoever wanted to move it definitely had to come prepared, and definitely had to have motivation,” Vickerd said Sunday night. “I don’t know what somebody’s motivation would be, other than maybe they just want it in their house.”
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The public art exhibit is part of the Downtown Boston Alliance’s WINTERACTIVE and is one of more than 15 displays in Boston through March 30. The exhibits, which include the hot pink blow-up figures scattered around downtown, are meant to draw from the musical festivals and outdoor art exhibitions put on in Québec in the winter.
Vickerd said “Alouette” has been on display in various cities since 2018, but he’s seen the sculpture “take on a life of its own” in Boston.
“The response has been really quite positive in Boston,” Vickerd said, referencing multiple viral online videos and reactions, “and I have nothing but good things to say about the downtown core and the people at WINTERACTIVE and the people who’ve interacted with it in a positive way.”
He said WINTERACTIVE recovered the sculpture, with the help of police, and they’ll begin restoring and repairing the sculpture Monday to reinstall by the end of the week.
Police said they reviewed camera footage of the incident. They said there had been no update in the investigation on Sunday.
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