Durham accepts gift of sculpture

The Durham City Council will accept the donation of a sculpture by noted Spanish artist Jaume Plensa for the plaza outside the new Durham Performing Arts Center.

Mayor Bill Bell said the council suspended the usual rules to vote during a work session Thursday.

Jim Goodmon, the president and chief executive of Capitol Broadcasting Co., has offered to donate the sculpture if the city agrees to maintain it for at least 25 years. Capitol Broadcasting is the parent company of WRAL.

The sculpture, entitled "Sleep No More," consists of a 13-foot-diameter disk of aluminum and stainless steel that bears a quote from William Shakespeare's "Macbeth" in raised letters that spiral out from the center. A 7,000-watt beam of light shoots up vertically  from an underground bulb through a lens in the middle of the disk, which sits on the ground.

 Goodmon last year donated three Plensa sculptures to the North Carolina Museum of Art.

The unveiling of the sculpture was set for Dec. 1, one day after the opening of the new performing arts center.