Dialogo

Dialogo

Created in honor of Chicago businessman Albert Pick Jr., and as a symbol for the Department of International Studies inside Pick Hall, Virginio Ferrari’s 1971 Dialogo is an arresting sight just around the corner from the University’s Main Quadrangle. Modeled on campus while Ferrari was the University’s sculptor-in-residence and subsequently cast in bronze in Ferrari’s home city of Verona, Italy, Dialogo (“Dialogue”) represents worlds coming together.

Dialogo's soft, curving form stands directly in front of and in contrast to Albert Pick Hall. Commissioned for the opening of Pick Hall, the sculpture is so connected to the Pick Hall in the public eye as to be considered a part of the building. Dialogo has also been the subject of a popular myth on campus that every year on Worker's day, the sculpture casts a shadow against Pick Hall in the shape of a hammer and sickle. Although creator Virginio Ferrari states this to be unintentional, he has also expressed excitement at the sense of community that has been born around the piece.

Virginio Ferrari

Subject line taken from a longer piece on Dialogo written by Zoe Kauder-Nalebuff, AB in Geography, 2016.
https://voices.uchicago.edu/exhibitiontemplate/2020/02/07/dialogo/

Installed 1971

Gift of Albert Pick and the Polk Brothers Foundation of Chicago

Bronze on limestone base
Height: 192 in. (487.7 cm)

Located at Albert Pick Hall for International Studies
5828 S. University Avenue

Sculpture