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The Boom and the Bust 25-ft sculpture (Seidman Center)

Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States
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Public art
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Listed, not yet checked · Oct 2026
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The Boom and the Bust is a 25-foot steel-and-wood sculpture by Olalekan Jeyifous, shown in Grand Rapids in 2019 as part of ArtPrize's Project 1. Experience Grand Rapids listed it in August 2026 among outdoor sculptures at Grand Valley State University's Seidman Center, 50 Front Ave SW.
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The Boom and the Bust 25-ft sculpture (Seidman Center)
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Site-level location · 42.9617° N, 85.6791° W
FIELD GUIDE

The story

A house at the bottom, a lattice of small homes in the middle and a skyscraper-like form on top: The Boom and the Bust stacks three forms of housing into one 25-foot sculpture of steel and wood.
Olalekan Jeyifous made it for ArtPrize's Project 1 in 2019, when it was one of five works shown in Grand Rapids. The Index Projects catalogue of public sculpture in Grand Rapids records that the Frey Foundation underwrote the work. Kevin Buist, then ArtPrize's artistic director, wrote in the Project 1 catalogue essay that Jeyifous drew on his research into housing discrimination and displacement in Grand Rapids, made worse by uneven economic growth and the legacy of redlining.
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WHAT TO EXPECT
An outdoor steel-and-wood sculpture in three stacked sections, at the Seidman Center of Grand Valley State University's Seidman College of Business in downtown Grand Rapids. Experience Grand Rapids lists it among Downtown West sculptures in an August 2026 guide.
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At the L. William Seidman Center, 50 Front Ave SW, Grand Rapids, a university building; Experience Grand Rapids lists it as an outdoor sculpture there (August 2026).
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Be Still and Know 32-ft steel sculpture (Lacks Park)
Grand Rapids, Michigan
Be Still and Know IV is a 32-foot-tall welded steel sculpture by Michigan artist John Merigian in Lacks Park beside the Blue Bridge in downtown Grand Rapids. It was shown at ArtPrize 2011 and has stayed in the park.
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0.4 km away
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