Cyrillic Projector & Spinning Top: The Sanborn Sculptures at UNCC
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JIM SANBORN American, b. 1945 1997   The Cyrillic Projector Bronze The Cyrillic text is divided vertically into two halves. One half contains an encoded text, and it refers to the dangers of suppressing intellectual and artistic freedom. The other half - "Vigenere's Tableaux" - is the decoding text. The cylinder shape is inspired by machines used for encryption.         Artworks for State Buildings Collection

JIM SANBORN American, b. 1945 1997   Adam Smith's Spinning Top Bronze This sculpture was inspired by the work of Adam Smith. The text is drawn from his great work "The Wealth of Nations." The Spinning Top is a metaphor for a healthy economy; the attached screen represents the trail of economic growth.         Artworks for State Buildings Collection

The Cyrillic Projector is a sculpture / encrypted puzzle located at UNCC in Charlotte, NC.
The Adam Smith's Spinning Top is a non-encrypted sculpture immediately adjacent to it.
Both are just outside of the Business Administration building of the UNCC campus.
They were designed by sculptor James Sanborn, the same person who created Kryptos at CIA Headquarters.
The CP was created in the early 90's, installed at UNCC in the late 90's, and withstood scrutiny for many years. It was partially solved by a couple people working independently, and Elonka's International Kryptos group (primarily Elonka) did the rest.



My interest is in the relation of the Cyrillic Projector to Kryptos, and whether there are any clues in this sculpture which relate to the final solution of Kryptos.
A few notes:
Sanborn created a couple of other sculptures which combine the text from Kryptos and the Cyrillic Projector + extra. Some of the names are Antipodes, Covert Balance, & Untitled Kryptos. Hirshhorn Antipodes/Covert Balance pics & info here. Untitled Kryptos pics here. This pairing of opposites is intriguing, especially since the keyword of the Cyrillic Projector is "shadow". This leads me to think that one of the keywords for Kryptos will be some sort of "light" word, such as "candle". Also using the light/shadow metaphor, the Cyrillic Projector is lighted from within, and "dark" or clouded by encrypted text. If Kryptos is the opposite, then it is metaphorically "dark" on the inside and needs to be "lighted" in order to solve it.  Otherwise, the sculptures are all quite similar in materials used, style, multiple messages, and encoding methods.



Interesting questions related to Kryptos:
Sanborn does not use the full Russian Cyrillic alphabet, the Cyrillic umlaut E (Ё) is missing. Why?
Sanborn moved the Cyrillic W from its normal position, and placed it next to the Cyrillic X in the cipher-alphabet. Why?
Could this relate to the "X Can you see anything Q?" message in Kryptos, where the encoded form has the W (=decoded Q) next to the ?-doorway?
Why is the 2nd message starting with a Cyrillic W at the very end of the last line of the 1st message; why not start it on a new line?
Why is the clueword "MEDUSA", embedded with the Russian word "for"? Why not move it outside of the word, a single space over?
Could it refer to Kryptos part four (4)?
Why are there "16 steps" along the x-axis from the M in MEDUSA to the Cyrillic X at the start of the line?
Why are there "16 steps" along the x-axis from the M in MEDUSA to the initial Cyrillic W of 2nd message?
Sanborn put intentional errors in the Kryptos text, the {Q,U,A}.  Are the errors in the Cyrillic Projector also intentional?
Why is the right edge of the text jagged, not smooth?
Interestingly, the clueword "MEDUSA" means "queen", and may be a hint about "King" Tut in Kryptos

In addition, there appear to be certain metaphorical relations between the Cyrillic Projector and the Adam Smith's Spinning Top (see below).

Cyrillic Projector Pics
Cyrillic Projector Info

The Cyrillic Projector encrypted message is composed of two sections. It uses the same type Vigenère encoding and keywords for both sections.
The 1st KeyWord is ТЕНЬ, the Russian word for "shadow / shade". This creates the cipher-alphabet.
The 2nd KeyWord is ЙБАСГТ, which is meaningless as far as I know. It is derived from the clue word MEDUSA, found in the sculpture.

The Cyrillic Projector sculpture has two "pages", a cipher side and a Vigenère tableau side. These are carved into the sculpture inside-out.  In other words, they appear reversed from the outside.  This allows the letter "light-shadows" to be projected outward onto nearby walls and ground correctly. The cipher transcript below has been letter-by-letter verified on-site.

All of the characters have a vertical height of 2" with a 7/8" vertical separation. 

The  (*)  is a single EXTRA BOLT centered on line 14, the MEDUSA line of the sculpture, between the "Х" of the encoded side and the "М" of the tableau side.  This appears to be a sculptural clue, as it is the only bolt which is not flush with the inner surface (it has a nut showing), and is out of sequence with the spacing of the other bolts (which have a 4" spacing). 

The word MEDUSA is in a different font than the other Cyrillic characters. 

Also, when sitting at the position where the MEDUSA shines on the wall, the top part of Sanborn's "Adam Smith Spinning Top" sculpture is visibly adjacent to the CP with the rest of the message being obscured.  The visible word there is "METAPHORS".  Interestingly there is a small hole just above the T! Another "T is your position" reference?

Another oddity is the base of the interior lamp, which is rotated approx. 15-30 degrees with respect to the symmetric brick lines that the sculpture otherwise follows in all respects (although this may have been necessary for the brick bolts). 

Additonally, there are (2) "unnecessary-looking" screws in the lamp hood, which when aligned point to the "Х" of line 5, the top "Х" of the 3-"Х" diagonal, and the "У" of line 16.  Interestingly, if you follow the 3-"Х" diagonal downward, you end up near the word "МАЯХ", which is beside a "У". Could this be KARL МARХ of Communist fame? Since the 2nd message is a KGB document about the dissident Sakharov, and the fact that the sculpture is adjacent to one about ADAM SMITH, another famous economic/political philosopher, this is intriguing, and seems purposeful.

Consider the two contrasting sculptures just outside the UNCC Business Admin building:
Spinning Top - Adam Smith - Capitalism - Open, readable, free-wheeling structure
Cyrillic Projector - Karl Marx - Communism - Closed, encrypted, hidden structure
Both economic/political philosophers with opposing ideologies.

Further, consider the CP itself:
Marx - Communism - visible on the encrypted, secretive surface
Sakharov - Dissident against Communism - hidden within the plaintext - the voice crying from within but suppressed
Again, opposing ideologies...

Antipodes is a separate sculpture that includes the entire text of Kryptos, with some repetition, on one side, and the entire text of the Cyrillic Projector, plus some additional new text, on the other side.  As can be seen below, the new text is the continuation of the 2nd message that was on the Cyrillic Projector. Thus, the transcript of the Cyrillic side of Antipodes would be all of the Cyrillic text above. It uses the exact same encoding and keywords as the Cyrillic Projector.

Section 1 (Sinister Methods of Secret Agents)
Cyrillic-Projector Solution:

Section 2a (1982 KGB report on Sakharov Message)
Cyrillic-Projector Solution:

Kryptos in the Turkish News

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