Dolt under ytan : En studie om vattnets betydelse i samtida offentlig konst

Sammanfattning: This study investigates how water is depicted in contemporary public art in Sweden, a country surrounded and built by water, and how it reflects in the art. The essay is based on Rosalind Krauss’ sculpture theory and examines how a mythical and vital substance like water is depicted and what its underlaying meaning is in three contemporary public sculptures; Till minnet av en älv (2020) by Anja Örn, Passage (2011) by Katarina Löfström and Hiljainen vesi /Tyst vatten (2019) by Laura Könönen. The study investigates if any mutual patterns can be seen and if so which, and how the relationship between the sculptures and their spatial context can be described based on Rosalyn Deutsches notion assimilative and divisive. Through analyses and comparison of the three sculptures it has emerged that water in all three public artworks stands as a metaphor for something else, here in form of the consequences of hydropower, the impermanence of time and minorities’ feeling of exclusion and community. Over these serious topics lies too a sense of melancholia. A common interest for the nature also appears and mainly because the artists have chosen to depict water even when it symbolizes something else. But the interest in nature also appears when two of the sculptures is made from natural rock and its characteristics. Furthermore, the study indicates that, despite the complexity in defining a public artwork as place-specific or placeless, all three of the sculptures have a connection with the place. The sculptures can therefore perceive as assimilative although to varying degrees and with element of divisive tendencies.