SHE LIES BY MONICA BONVICINI

 
The opening of the Norwegian National Opera & Ballet in April 2008 effectively marked the completion of the work of the Art Committee for the New Opera House. Still to be produced at that point was the Water Project, for which Monica Bonvicini’s sculpture Hun ligger (She Lies) was announced as the competition winner in October 2007.

The sculpture that is now under construction and will be placed in the harbour basin in front of the Norwegian National Opera & Ballet in May is an autonomous work that offers a three-dimensional interpretation of Caspar David Friedrich’s painting, Das Eismeer, from 1823–24. The artist “translated” the painting into a monumental sculptural work. Its base dimensions will be 13 x 13 metres, from which a 16 metre high steel and glass construction will rise. Hun ligger consists of a steel structure partially clad in reflective, semi-transparent slanting glass surfaces . Not only do the changing daily weather conditions reflect on the work; there is also the transparency and interplay between the supporting structure and the covered-up surfaces, which suggests a revered duality in value between the structure and the façade. This synthesis of structure/skin/ornament explores the interface between nature and culture, or that of a cultural artefact.