Not Whimsy

Here, signs warn you away from the ladder, away from the tiny message. Lawsuits. "If she'd done that piece today," Stallings said, "there would be wider steps, railings . . ." Now it's an artifact commemorating a piece of art, and its happy—even subversive, once upon a time—message is there only for people who've read the story. It's like a recent cartoon that showed a velvet rope keeping museumgoers away from a protected work—another velvet rope. Still, it's nice to see. Go, and climb it when no one's looking.