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Moscow Argues Over Urs Fischer Sculpture

Moscow Argues Over Urs Fischer Sculpture

A statue by well-known Swiss artist Urs Fischer has sparked some debate in the Russian capital, Moscow. “Big Clay #4” (“Grosser Lehm #4”) is the name of the 12-meter-high aluminum and steel work—and, as the name suggests, is supposed to represent a stack of clay blocks. The Russian Foundation for Contemporary Art VAC said it is a symbol of imperfection and transformation. The problem: For many Muscovites, the piece is more reminiscent of a huge pile of shit.

Comedian Maxim Galkin quipped shortly after the statue was erected in Bolotnaya Naberezhnaya on the banks of the Moscow River, “Big Clay” looks like “a bunch of particularly inaccurate things.” He hopes it will soon disappear from the city center. Architectural critic Grigori Rewsin recently wrote more restorative: “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and so does sh***.” Reactions on social networks also range from approval, amusement, and disapproval.