Skulpturen Syrisk häst : Tillkomstprocessen i Uddevalla

Sammanfattning: The sculpture Syrian horse was placed in Uddevalla, Sweden, in 2019. At first it was borrowed by Uddevalla municipality. Soon it became so popular among the inhabitants which led to a fundraising to enable a public purchase of the sculpture. The aim of this essay was to analyze the process of how a public art work, a sculpture, was procured form the perspective of three actors; the procurer, the artist and the viewer. The following methods were used: qualitative interview with the artist, public document from the procurer Uddevalla municipality, observation of the sculpture in situ with photo documentation, and telephone conversation with the former antiquarian in Uddevalla municipality. Sculpture theory based on Rosalind Krauss and Jessica Sjöholm Skrubbe was central for the analysis. Furthermore, semiotic with Roland Barthes´s concepts denotation and connotation, Ferdinand de Saussure´s concepts expression and content and Charles Sanders Pierces´s concept iconic sign was central. For contextualization of the horse as a motive, different types of horse sculptures were used for comparison. The result shows that for the procurer, no policy or guidelines for public art within the municipality existed to procure public art. The success factors were committed officials, network contacts and being on the right place in the right time. For the artist, the site where the sculpture was placed was of great importance, which was one aspect of realizing his vision of the artwork. Also, the form and technique made the sculpture successful. The viewers turned out to be an important part of the process by visiting the sculpture on site, activities on social media and started a fundraising to enable a public procurement of the sculpture. Also, the artist lowered the price of the sculpture to meet the viewers engagement. Finally, the presence of policy or guidelines for public art within the municipality to procure public art cannot be seen as a determinant. Other sources of funding for public art should be investigated. Several aspects in the composition of the Syrian horse indicate that it is contemporary art, e.g. aspects of globalization, integration and gender.