So this sculpture, by artist Dennis Oppenheim, is coming to Calgary. Apparently it's very controversial and has been making a lot of people angry. By "people" of course I mean Christians. So should I be offended by this? I'm not sure. What do you think?
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
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ummm. Well. Let's see. It's an upside down, slightly deconstructed/open structured church. And this is "A Device to Root Out Evil?" hmmm. Well, I'm really only affronted by the kinda sorta obviousness of the "message" behind it. I'm not a huge fan of blatant messages in art. Other than that I could probably see it from both sides on the offensive issue. I personally lean heavily towards the not so offended side. ...assuming I'm not missing something significant in there. What is it that supposedly offends people?
Ya, I can't really see my way clear to be offended by it. I guess people get offended 'cause they see it like an inverted cross or something. The artist claims to be making no religious statement. He says its actually an exercise in balance and architecture.
Regardless it's been causing an uproar wherever it goes. It's been kicked out of cities. Vancouver being the most recent.
I don't really "get" the sculpture. But the bible says that the love of money is the root of all evil, so maybe the sculpture is saying that we should take a few board off the church, turn it upside down, and shake all the money out like an upside down piggy bank. If we took the money (or the love of money) out of the church, would that root out evil? Maybe.
Ha! I like that interpretation Cherie.
Weirdly this little piece of art came up in a meeting today at work. I'm starting to get the feeling that the City has something to do with everything! You'll never guess, but Arts & Culture is a component of Recreation so some of my colleagues are involved in working with "civic partners" (i.e. the Glenbow Museum) finding a space to house this piece.
I added a link to my original post (coming to Calgary) to a Vancouver Sun article about this. Check it out.
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