The sculpture shows a female officer wearing a helmet, body armour and a baton squatting with her combat trousers around her knees with a realistic-looking puddle on the floor.The display - at Dreseden College of Art in Germany - won young artist Narcel Walldorf a £1,000 prize but has outraged critics.
Police union spokesman Hagen Hisgen said: "There is freedom of art - but this time it has gone too far."
And local interior minister Markus Ulbig added "It is offensive towards policewomen and in my opinion is against human dignity." But a spokesperson for the art school said: "Narcel doesn't understand why people are attacking what is simply a work of art."
There are more photos here.
6 comments:
I wouldn't want it in my living room, but I don't see anything wrong with it. What's next for this artist, a sculpture of Paula Radcliffe having a wee whilst running a marathon?
To be honest I don't see it as art. Its a mannequin wearing a uniform posed in such a way as to get the most publicity.
I definitely see it as art. I see an outrageous and funny reminder of the fact we are all humans, whatever else we may be.
hahaha. Cmon, a policewoman's gotta pee. Really cool :D
Least she's not curling off a turd.
Yeah, it reveals someone whose job is to be tough and invulnerable and in control (note all the armour she's wearing), in a very vulnerable position -- privates exposed, squatting. As Insolitus says, it's a reminder of our common human frailty. And it works with a policewoman in a way that it wouldn't with a policeman, since she has to undress and squat to pee (a man standing to pee, for some reason, suggests assertiveness and dominance).
I can see why the police wouldn't like it, though. They're not in the business of appearing vulnerable. I also like the minister's comment that it's "against human dignity." That's true, in a way -- just not in the way he meant it.
Like Ratz, though, I wouldn't want it in my house.
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