In BK Information #6, we put out a call for you to share with us photos of art in public spaces that you encounter while on vacation or on a day trip. Below are initial submissions. We look forward to seeing more!
The above image by Giovanni Bandini, Monument of the Four Moors we encountered in Livorno, Talia.
Frans Steginga sent photos ofTower by Thomas Lerooy, from Knokke in Belgium
Mariette Visbach and Kees Verschuren submitted the photo below of a work they came across while traveling in Italy.
La Fontana di Satana By Luigi Ontani in the station square of Vergato
Work of Jan Dibbets in Paris
During a visit to Paris, a friend of Hein Eberson mentioned a work by Jan Dibbets, who was commissioned to make a monument to Francois Arago (1786-1853), astronomer, scientist, humanist, politician and head of state. A statue of Arago was melted down by the Germans in World War II.
"Arago had surveyor plotted the meridian across France and Dibbets took it as his starting point. Exactly on the Parisian part of the longitudinal circle, straight through the city, from south to north over twelve kilometers, he placed 135 bronze medallions with the simple inscription ARAGO. Just in the asphalt, in the streets, in parks, on sidewalks or under gates.
(Note: edited text by Philip Freriks. See https://www.kunstgeografie.nl/dibbets/dibbets.htm)
The photo was taken in Jardin de Luxembourg. The meridian would run exactly across the axis of the park, but the medallion is (using a better measurement method) tens of meters off axis.
Many tiles were stolen, thanks to the film The Da Vinci Code starring Tom Hanks. One of the tiles comes into view briefly. It did bring attention to the work, and with it vandalism.
The work is reminiscent of the dérive of the International Situationists."
Weathervane by Teodoras Kazimieras Valaitis
Isa Leijdekkers came to see the artwork Weathervane against in Vilnius, Litauen.
She sent along the following information (translation from http://tartle.lt/lt/kolekcijos/vetrunge.html):
"Teodoras Kazimieras Valaitis (1934-1974) broadened the conception of decorative sculpture in the late 1960s and early 1970s. His works were linked to the environment, architecture and users more than those of other artists. The artist's only official works were decorative sculptures commissioned by the government, intended to embellish public interiors, exteriors or exhibitions in Soviet pavilions.
In the early 1970s, artists became interested in creating geometrically built, stable and mobile structures. In Soviet times, these decorative compositions, "architectural additions," could only emerge and exist in the shadow of architecture. For Valaitis, architecture was of great importance - when creating objects for interiors and the work "Vėtrungė," he attached great importance to their harmonious integration into architecture.
Art historian Erika Grigoravičienė states:
"The abstract, minimalist Vėtrungė, placed in Lazdynai in 1973 and carved from copper plate, was not only the first abstract and kinetic sculpture in Lithuania, but also a wonderful example of Ezopian language. She began to indicate the direction of the wind, driven by the force of the wind itself - and in Lithuania the wind usually blows from the west."
This spatial construction became the work that made the artist's name best known. It was built a year before his tragic death. The model of the Vėtrungė - made of iron and almost identical to the one in Lazdynai - consists of geometric, organic forms woven into a rhythmic structure like modules. This style is characteristic of the sculptor's later work. The only difference, besides the material used, is that the intersection of the pointer and base of the public version of the Vėtrungė is more elegantly designed, with a curved surface that emphasizes the biomorphic nature of the sculpture.
Place du Torrent of Observatory
Ingrid Fijen sent us a photo of a work by the Rotterdam collective Observatorium in Herewith my photos of the artwork by Rotterdam collective Observatorium that she came across on the Campus Université in the French city of Grenoble Alpes. The sculpture was given a place there in 2022
The Bean Sculpture and Foot Foutain
Esther Didden came across two works in public spaces in New York that she wanted to share with us: The Bean Sculpture (2023) by Anish Kapoor and the temporary Foot Fountain By Mika Rottenberg.
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