Hans
Christian Andersen sculpture to be buried
Saturday
October 8th from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at Odense Harbour
You are
hereby invited to attend a somewhat humorous funeral-event, where, in the
company of other good people, we are going to bury my
big sculpture of Hans Christian Andersen in Odense Harbour.
There will
be a special funeral brew, a brass band, a male voice choir and eulogies. What´s not to
like? The beer is sponsored by the restaurant Druen
& Bønnen and Brygselv.dk will brew a special
H.C.A. Funeral Beer.
Attire:
Since this is a funeral, I strongly recommend appropriate black/dark attire,
and perhaps a dark hat (preferably a top hat like the one Hans Christian
Andersen wore). Also, in case of rain, please bring a black umbrella.
I hope to
see you there. J
2 p.m.: We´ll meet at Flakhaven where
there will be eulogies, brass music and a male voice choir singing sombre
songs.
2:45 p.m.:
The sculpture of Hans Christian Andersen is lifted on to a hearse and the funeral procession begins.
We will march slowly towards Odense Harbour. The choir will sing and the band
will play New Orleans funeral jazz.
3:30 p.m.:
The funeral procession arrives at Odense Harbour. The sculpture is hoisted up
in the tall crane where Hans Christian Andersen, soaring above us, will witness
his funeral. He is the lowered slowly into his watery grave and the sculpture
is renamed Waiting for Better Times.
4 p.m.:
Galschiot serves funeral beer and the band plays.
4:30 p.m.:
The funeral is over and we leave the puzzled statue in the harbour.
Hopefully this
somewhat humorous funeral-event will be the beginning of a new annual tradition
in Odense, where the statue of the poet will be exhumed and resurrected and the
poet celebrated on his birthday April 2nd. The first time we do this
will be April 2nd 2012. The sculpture will be paraded around Odense
that he may witness for himself the state of his city. He will then be taken to
the harbour and buried again.
There are
many good reasons to attend this happening such as common curiosity, loathing
of bureaucracy and politicians or maybe displeasure that the project The Storyteller’s Fountain has gone south. Maybe you have
simply grown tired of the entire project itself as well as of Hans Christian
Andersen and want to see both of them buried for good. Maybe you want a good
beer and to be able to brag that you were there when the tradition began.
Whatever the reason, you are welcome to join us.
After more
than 6 years of work both I, the city council and the committee for the
donations to the project have put the project on hold. It is very disappointing
that the vision of creating a water-sculpture to illustrate the fairytales of
Hans Christian Andersen has come to an end.
We have had
many and great expectations and have spent a considerable amount of energy on
this project, so a proper burial is called for. The sculpture of Hans Christian
Andersen itself costs 200,000 Euro and perhaps it could have been sold to
another city, but I feel it is connected to Odense and I have decided that it
should stay here whether the city wants it to or not. Who knows, maybe it will
become a new tourist-attraction in Odense that can help draw people to the
somewhat empty harbour.
Jens Galsciot, Banevaenget 22, 5270
Odense N, Denmark
Telephone:
(0045) 6618 4058
E-mail: aidoh@aidoh.dk
Info:
www.aidoh.dk
The story
of The Storyteller's Fountain is in
itself a sort of modern H.C. Andersen fairytale:
** First the inhabitants collected money. ** Then the town council unanimously
granted 4 million DKK and a local fund gave 2.5 million. ** Now the
administrators of the city were asked to find a place for the unequalled artwork.
** Then everything was brought into a standstill for several years, while the
civil servants of the city worked.** 2 years later the financial crisis
occurred, and the local fund collapsed because of speculations on the stock
market, and when the clever civil servants and politicians had not yet
collected the 2.5 million, the money simply disappeared .** But then the local
authority realized that they also needed money, and so they took 3 millions
from the cash box dedicated to the sculpture.** After 4 years the civil
servants had finally found some suitable locations. But! Now most of the money was
lost leaving only 2 million, and the sculpture had to be decimated into being
just a shadow of its former self. ** However the administrators' suggestions
for the placement of the sculpture were all far, far away from the city centre,
and therefore they could not honor the intentions about creating a living
storyteller tradition in the centre of the city as desired from the common
collection committee, the local community as well as the artist. ** Then the
entire project was suspended in August 2011. ** And then the artist buried
the sculpture in the harbour of Odense.
THE END