There are millions of monuments, sculptures and installations on the planet. And each of them has its own function: some do not allow people to forget about the events of the past, others bear special symbolism, and still others are simply pleasing to the eye. But there are those who both look unusual and carry an important semantic load. Here are 16 non-trivial sculptures that will impress you both in meaning and in appearance.
1. Monument to a woman's bag (Piedmont, Italy)
About what can be lost in a seemingly small handbag of the representatives of the beautiful half of humanity, almost legends have long been circulating. Therefore, there is nothing surprising in the fact that a monument to her also appeared: it was presented in Italy at an exhibition in 2013 entitled “Thoughts. Space. Dialogue between nature and imagination”. Spain presented a funny sculpture.
2. Monument to a graphic designer (Krasnoyarsk, Russian Federation)
But in the domestic open spaces they decided to perpetuate the not very old, but therefore no less creative profession - a printing designer. The opening of the corresponding monument took place on October 10, 2008 in the city of Krasnoyarsk was erected. The installation represents a typical workplace for a representative of this type of activity: a table with a computer on it, a table lamp and a chair with a jacket hanging on it.
Interesting fact: the authors of the sculpture deliberately chose the opening time - 10 hours 10 minutes - as they claim that the average designer wakes up at that time.
3. Sculptures of pigs (Adelaide, Australia)
Not a single living soul on the planet is worthy of oblivion, even if it is … grunting. Perhaps this is how the authors of the pig monument, which eloquently located in front of the trash cans of the Rundle Mall shopping center, in the Australian city of Adelaide, reasoned. Moreover, cute bronze pigs also have names - Oliver, Augusta, Horatio and Truffle.
4. Statue "No Violence" (Malmö, Sweden)
The history of this sculpture, which at the same time carries an acute social overtones, is tragic. The statue with the telling name "No to Violence" looks like a massive revolver, the barrel of which was literally tied in a knot, and it was created at the end of 1980, in memory of John Lennon, who was shot by his own fan a little earlier. This sculpture turned out to be so popular that a total of 17 copies of it were erected all over the planet, and ten at once - in Sweden. Other replicas can be found in New York, Kirchberg in Luxembourg, Beijing, Berlin, the French city of Caen, Cape Town and Lausanne, Switzerland.
5. Sculpture "Love" (Odessa, Ukraine)
In 2015, within the framework of the Burning Man festival in Nevada, … "Love" was presented. This is the name of the work of the Ukrainian sculptor Alexander Milov, which represents the frames of two adults sitting with their backs to each other, and inside both sits a small child, and both babies reaching out to each other. And at night, children's figures also glow. The author himself says this about his sculpture: “It demonstrates the conflict between a man and a woman, as well as external and internal manifestations of human nature. Their inner personalities look like ghostly children holding hands through bars of cages. When darkness falls (night falls) children start to shine. Radiance is a symbol of tenderness and sincerity that unite people and give hope for the best in the darkest times. " Today you can see her in the city of Odessa, Ukraine.
6. Statue "Traveler" (Marseille, France)
In fairness, it is worth clarifying that the author of the "Traveler" sculpture, French artist and sculptor Bruno Catalano, created not one, but a whole group of similar statues that are scattered across Marseilles and are united under the general name "Les Voyageur". Bronze people who are not fully depicted appeared in 2013. And for a reason: their installation was timed to confer the status of the cultural capital of Europe to Marseilles.
7. Monument to unknown passers-by (Wroclaw, Poland)
A group of people frozen on the sidewalk of Wroclaw must involuntarily return those who see them to the difficult times for the Poles when their country is in the communist camp. For many people, this period is associated, first of all, with attempts to suppress personality and dissent, but at the same time the ongoing underground anti-communist activity, which reached its height in the eighties of the last century. Therefore, these people are gray and do not have names: they symbolize the sameness and the gray mass, into which the communists tried to turn the Poles.
8. Bread Line Monument (Washington, USA)
Another, much larger disaster of the last century is dedicated to the monument erected near the memorial to Franklin Roosevelt. It was during his reign that the times of difficult trials fell, such as hunger and unemployment during the Great Depression in America. The queue, immortalized in the monument, demonstrates the tiredness and hopelessness that could be seen among the people standing there, who were waiting for their plate of stew and a piece of bread.
9. Monument to the Unknown Bureaucrat (Reykjavik, Iceland)
A monument in Iceland can also be regarded as an image of hopelessness, but only among representatives of one kind of activity. We are talking about everyone who performs the routine thankless work of a bureaucrat. This monument was erected back in 1994, and its author is the sculptor Magnus Thomasson: his work is an image of a man in a suit who holds a briefcase, but he does not have a face, it is hidden behind a huge stone cube, as if emphasizing the external facelessness of thousands of office workers …
10. Sculpture "A Joke on a Policeman" (Brussels, Belgium)
The sculptures do not have to carry a complex deep semantic load: sometimes they are designed to bring a little laughter into the life of a passer-by. After all, this is exactly what the bronze worker is doing - having fun, making fun of the policeman. The humorous installation is the work of Belgian artist Tom Frantzen, and its name in Danish sounds like "De Vaartkapoen": "vaart" means "channel" and "kapoen" means "cheeky". The sculpture was installed in 1985 in the commune of Molenbeck-Saint-Jean, in the district of Brussels.
11. Nelson Mandela Memorial (Hawick, South Africa)
The famous African politician Nelson Mandela was immortalized quite interestingly. The memorial is a profile image of a man formed from fifty steel columns - that is how many years have passed since the arrest and the beginning of the persecution of the politician. True, the resemblance to Mandela can be noticed only when you are at a certain angle to the installation - in other positions it will seem that there is only a cluster of iron pins ahead. The monument is located on the N3 highway, between the cities of Hawick and Durban.
12. Sculpture "Stairway to Heaven" (Bondi, Australia)
There is also an entertaining-looking sculpture in Australia called "Diminish and Ascend", which is loosely interpreted as "Stairway to Heaven." This art installation by artist David McCracken also fully reveals its meaning if you look at it from the right angle: then it really looks like an endless staircase that is hidden somewhere in the clouds.
13. Horizons (New Zealand)
At first glance, it may seem that this image has been spoiled by some kind of animator - this object looks too drawn. However, this gigantic sculpture called "Horizons" by artist Neil Dawson from New Zealand really exists, has a gigantic size and looks like that. And this effect is achieved due to the visual illusion, which allows this "piece of paper" to really flutter at the top of the hill.
14. Sculpture "Engagement" (Vancouver, Canada)
Another series of sculptures called "Engagement" was invented by sculptor Dennis Oppenheim. The design is an image of two rings with diamonds, which are customary to give when a marriage proposal is made. The very first of this series of sculptures was installed in 2005 at Sunset Beach in Vancouver, and therefore is considered the most famous. Similar installations can also be found in Nevada, San Diego, Ruoholahti in Finland and Leoben in Austria. It is interesting that the author himself never expressed his own thoughts about the semantic load that his works should carry - apparently, for everyone who sees them, they should have their own symbolism.
15. Politicians Discuss Global Warming (Berlin, Germany)
In recent years, more and more talk about the depressing environmental situation on the planet. And most of all discussions are caused by the problem of global warming. Therefore, it is not surprising that the Spanish sculptor and artist Isaac Cordal, in an ironic presentation, also drew attention to this issue. His work depicts the difficult process of negotiations on global warming by certain officials, only they, apparently, are already somewhat late in the discussion, because they seem to be standing up to their necks in water. Perhaps this is how Kordal decided to draw attention to this issue at that moment, before it was too late.
16. "Black Ghost" (Klaipeda, Lithuania)
But the famous Lithuanian monument from Klapeida, known as the "Black Ghost", is intended not to remind about potential problems of the future, but not to let one forget about mystical episodes of the past. So, this sculpture is an image of a character of a well-known legend in the city about a certain ghost in a black cloak with a lantern in his hands, who in 1595 prophesied hunger and deprivation to one of the guards of the Klaipeda castle if they did not increase the supply of grain and wood.
Do you want to know more about what sculptures can be found all over the world? Then read: Sprats, hippos and a clothespin: the strangest monuments people have invented