Tilting at windmills 1988, which contained the song "Tilting at Windmills". Tilting at windmills Tilting at windmills is an English idiom that means attacking imaginary enemies. The expression is derived from the 1605 novel "Don Quixote" by Miguel de Cervantes, and the word "tilt" in this context comes from jousting. The phrase is sometimes used to describe either confrontations where adversaries are incorrectly perceived, or courses of action that are based on misinterpreted or misapplied heroic, romantic, or idealistic justifications. It may also connote an importune, unfounded, and vain effort against adversaries real or imagined for a vain goal. The phrase comes from
Tilted Arc a 2006 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals established that VARA does not protect location as a component of site-specific work. William Gaddis satirized these events in his 1994 novel, "A Frolic of His Own". Notes Bibliography Tilted Arc Tilted Arc was a controversial public art installation by Richard Serra, displayed in Foley Federal Plaza in Manhattan from 1981 to 1989. The art work consisted of a 120-foot long, 12-foot high solid, unfinished plate of rust-covered COR-TEN steel. Advocates characterized it as an important work by a well-known artist that transformed the space and advanced the concept of sculpture,