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Statuer la Créature de Frankenstein: Condition spatiale de la Sculpture Urbaine.

Authors :
Maeder, Thierry
Piraud, Mischa
Source :
ACME: An International Journal for Critical Geographies. 2019, Vol. 18 Issue 2, p421-455. 35p.
Publication Year :
2019

Abstract

In 2014, the City of Geneva unveiled Frankie a.k.a. The Creature of Doctor Frankenstein in a large square in the city center. This bronze sculpture - inaugurated in time for the 200th anniversary of Shelley's novel, written in Geneva - is the work of KLAT, a group of artists originally involved in the squat scene. Conceived as a contemporary metaphor for marginality, the sculpture is intended to be a critique of an urban order that excludes, relegates, and invisibilizes. In this paper, we examine the production process of this contemporary version of Frankenstein's creature. The ambiguity of the punk rereading, in bronze, without a pedestal, of a romantic figure, reveals more broadly the complexity of the contemporary spatial condition of art. By examining the process of commissioning, and the administrative discussion about the location between different city departments, and with the artists, we address several spatial issues in contemporary art. The analysis of the discussions reveals different interpretations of the work, its literary background and its urban environment. This reciprocal construction of a sense of the statue and its place allows us to think about what constitutes the relationship between art and its context. More broadly, this case questions the conditions for a critique of urban order through public art. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Details

Language :
French
ISSN :
14929732
Volume :
18
Issue :
2
Database :
Academic Search Index
Journal :
ACME: An International Journal for Critical Geographies
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
136967512