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Portrait of a sculptor |
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An interactive monument to Hans Christian Andersen - from hopeful beginning to deep disappointment |
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Jens Galschiot launched a design for a monument to the world-famous storyteller on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of his birth 2005. The sculpture is a fountain cast in copper and bronze, 10 metres in diameter. On the edge Hans Christian Andersen is sitting bathing his feet in the water. At the opposite side the edge takes the form of a chair. Here a person can sit down to tell stories, not necessarily by Andersen. The aim is to invigorate a narrative tradition. The sculpture should integrate figures from all the fairy-tales of Andersen, perhaps more than 1,000. The spectator is spurred to guess as many of the figures as possible. The beginning seemed promising. The municipality had unanimously decided to grant the bulk of the founding, more than 500.000 €. Contributions had come from a local foundation, the commercial life, trade unions and a public subscription. But then the financial crisis arose. The foundation went bankrupt and the municipality was in alarming need of money, so they withdrew the grant that unfortunately had not been made legally binding. |
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The big statue of Andersen was finished January 2005. The whole sculpture was never finished, due to the financial crisis. |
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The Storyteller’s Fountain - copper model - scale 1/10 |