A bold orange-red steel sculpture now rises from the Crescent Lawn at the west edge of the UC Berkeley campus along Oxford Street. The artwork, titled "Mamma Mobius," is a large-scale piece by Mark di Suvero, a celebrated American sculptor and UC Berkeley graduate.
Recently acquired by the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA), it is a permanent installation inspired by the Möbius strip, a mathematical form with only one side and one edge, translated into a looping composition of curved steel. Di Suvero, 92, is known for monumental steel works that blend art, engineering, and public space.
Born in Shanghai in 1933 to an Italian diplomat, his family fled to San Francisco during World War II. He studied philosophy at UC Berkeley in the 1950s and began sculpting there, later becoming a defining figure in postwar American sculpture.
The arrival of "Mamma Mobius" highlights UC Berkeley's open-air artworks. On Crescent Lawn, it joins Alexander Calder's "The Hawk for Peace" and Arnaldo Pomodoro's "Sphere Within a Sphere," creating an informal sculpture garden at the campus's western edge.
Pomodoro's bronze globe, created in 1969, is a recognizable landmark, while Calder's 1968 stabile, donated in memory of his brother-in-law, is historically significant. Elsewhere on campus, Bruce Beasley's "Rondo II" sits in a reflecting pool at the Hearst Mining Circle, and Richard Hunt's "Outgrown Pyramid #1" stands near North Gate.
These works, made of steel, bronze, and other industrial materials, reflect the university's legacy of creative discovery and material innovation.