Photography blog about Oslo, the city we love

Friday, February 11, 2011

Afternoon at the Opera





On top:  
The scuplture She Lies by Monica Bonvicini, in front of the Opera, unveiled 10th May 2010.

"A Monument to a state of permanent change." (Monica Bonvicini)

She Lies is a monumental sculpture built out of stainless steel and glass panels that measure approximately 12 x 17 x 16 m. The piece is permanently installed and floats amidst the fjord on the water. By turning around its own axis in correspondence to the tides, the sculpture offers changing views through the reflections on the mirrored and semitransparent surfaces.

Bonvicini's sculpture is a three dimensional interpretation of Caspar David Friedrich's painting Das Eismeer, 1823-24. It is particularly referring to the central motive of the work: the massive piles of ice that function as a symbol for power and magnificence of the north.

"The synthesis of structure/skin/ornament explore the interface between nature and culture, or that of a cultural artefact. While reconstructing a famous Romantic painting, the work represents in a visual striking way the shape of an iceberg, as if one would have, by circumstances due to the global warming, ended up in the fjord in front of the opera house. A built ruin in best modernistic style, the sculpture on water will stand for a permanent state of erection/construction." (M. Bonvicini)

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