Comic Relief - Should Group Sex Be Public Art??

Forums: Art, Politics, Germany, Political Satire, German Art
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A new sculpture in a southern German town has tourists snapping pictures and politicians arguing about the role of public art. The work shows Angela Merkel naked, along with other politicians, and the artist is unapologetic. He calls the work his "group-sex relief."

The town of Bodman-Ludwigshafen, in the far south of Germany, doesn't top the itinerary of an average European cultural tourist. But curious Germans have flocked there for over a week to see a new work by the sculptor Peter Lenk, whose carved relief of naked German political leaders has been derided as "cheap" and "piggish" by some local politicians.

» Full report at Spiegel-online «

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[+3] - Walter Hinteler - 09/20/2008It's from the title of the (online) magazine Spiegel. But it really means exactly how it is described in Wikipedia: [quote]The term public art properly refers to works of art in any media...

@Walter Hinteler,

It certainly was intended as a deterrent Very Happy

after looking at these pictures.

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@Walter Hinteler,

The Hartz IV people (persons out of work with a very low income) looks like they are dancing around on a beach - Mallorca? - is a slap in the face to these people. They cannot afford to fly on vacation.
It is bad taste to show people naked who would not allow it themselves. I am not against statues or pictures of naked people, but it has to be done with dignity and good taste. This certainly is not.

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@saab,

saab, the faces of these naked people belong all to politicians, and are by any
means no Hartz IV recipients.

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@Walter Hinteler,

Well, there was an 'artist' that had a shop on the Santa Fe plaza for awhile--her only works were the bottom half of naked male torsos displaying full erections. Quite a sight when you walk in and there's about a hundred of these and nothing else. (The shop is no longer there. The market must have been somewhat limited.)

But looking at this new German sculpture, I'm thinking that German schools should spend a bit more time introducing the young people to Gruenewald, Durer, and Holbein. Smile

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@CalamityJane,

Behind the politicians is a group of Hartz IV people, which can see very clearly.
And the sign says Hartz VI instead of Hartz IV

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@saab,

saab, perhaps you don't see the satire behind these scenes, respectively what
the artist had intended to show. Read this:

Quote:

The five naked politicians are the architects of a welfare-reform package called Harz IV, which has been controversial in Germany for years and attended by more than one scandal involving corporate money and government figures.

"When it comes to their privileges and taking money out of the pockets of citizens," he said, "they all hold the scepter, so to speak. Politics is far more pornographic than any art."

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@CalamityJane,

The question was:
Comic Relief - Should Group Sex Be Public Art??
and I said my opinion, which does not mean I can´t see the satire behind the whole thing.

1 Reply

@saab,

In India ( where i was born) there is one European tourist attraction( I mean sex-starved European and Americans)
The name is Khauj raho)
kamasutra is as popular as any Playboy penthouse.

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@Walter Hinteler,

Nothing like a bit of good political satire.

I like it.

Not that I plan to go and check it out.

I'm not sure about the title of the thread. How did you mean public art to be read?

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@ehBeth,

It's from the title of the (online) magazine Spiegel.

But it really means exactly how it is described in Wikipedia:

Quote:

The term public art properly refers to works of art in any media that has been planned and executed with the specific intention of being sited or staged in the public domain, usually outside and accessible to all.

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@Foxfyre,

Foxfyre wrote:

But looking at this new German sculpture, I'm thinking that German schools should spend a bit more time introducing the young people to Gruenewald, Durer, and Holbein.

It's a relief on the townhall - schools are state's affairs Wink

The relief xasted 35,000 Euros, mostly given by private donors, only 1,500 Euros from the town (out of the money they got from parking fines).

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@Walter Hinteler,

ahh ok - I wasn't sure if it referred to public funding in some way

using the definition of "accessible to all", I say " yes, it should be public art", or at the least, I don't care that it is public art.

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@Walter Hinteler,

Of course my name is notorious if not popular in DER SPEIGLE english forum where many Americans are seeking sheter to show their intellectual views.
I read DER SPeigelL like any other journals..
commercialism is all pervasive and THE ABOVE mentioned journal is not an exception.

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Comic Relief - Should Group Sex Be Public Art??

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