Focus on Kendall Band and discuss the Installation and repairs.
Paul Matisse was the only artist commissioned for the initial "Arts on the Line" program who created an artwork with moving parts. Almost immediately after the Kendall Band was installed, it broke. The sculpture began to fail so quickly that the Pythagoras instrument stopped working before the other two could even be completely installed.  Matisse later commented that, "You’d probably have to say it was folly of me to press ahead and present them with something that had moving parts...(but)...I figured it was going to be all right."Matisse would post temporary signs in place of the instrument handles on the walls of Kendall Station, whenever repair work was taking place on the Kendall Band.  Responses which were scrawled in the margins by passengers ranged from "If you spent my tax $ on this, then may you DIE SLOWLY!!" to “If you spent tax dollars on this, may you live long + happily." Other comments included “Great to do while stoned!", “Thank you for making me forget the horrors of this day", and “Try to get a tapered connection from the first vertical to the second on this side and an oversized second vertical linkage with perhaps an internal shock absorber".Over time, repairs and additions to the sculpture were completed that made the work more resilient. One of the more-important modifications added a set of mechanical clutches hidden behind the handles of the instruments, which disengage "when someone yanks too hard or too fast".No repair or upgrade work can be embarked upon until 1:30am each night, which is when the MBTA stops running trains.  Matisse himself had to personally repair the sculpture whenever it broke, and  he was not able to find any organization or corporation that was willing to take over the upkeep of the Band. Because of this, Matisse eventually abandoned the work after roughly 20 years of maintenance. He later stated, “I just kept it going, and then at one point I decided that I was just going to have to let it go out on its own... Sort of like one’s kids. The time comes."
Paul Matisse Kendall Station MBTA Arts on the Line Pythagoras clutch