Stockholm's giant penis mural to be covered up after complaints
The Local Sweden - [email protected]
Published: 13 Apr, 2018 CET.
Updated: Fri 13 Apr 2018 10:10 CET
A giant blue penis painted on a Stockholm apartment building is to be covered up after just one week, the company which owns the building has said.
Atrium Ljungberg said it had come to the decision after receiving a barrage of complaints about the five-story high depiction of a bulging erection.
"Of course we care about artistic freedom, but at the same time we must respect the opinion of our closest neighbours," Camilla Klint, the company's marketing head, said in a statement.
"By letting it remain for a short period, we are offering anyone who's interested a chance to experience the work."
The company said that it had been given no prior warning that a giant penis was about to appear on one of its blocks.
"On Wednesday morning, April 11th, we saw Kollektivet Livet's new work for the first time, at exactly the same moment as all the other people who live on Kungsholmen did," it said in its statement.
Under their arrangement, the artist collective had total artistic freedom over the works it commissioned for the wall, at Kronobergsgatan 35 on the central Stockholm island of Kungsholmen.
The decision will come as a disappointment to the artist Carolina Falkholt. Her first giant penis painting, which she plastered on a wall in the Lower East Side of Manhattan in December, lasted only a few days.
She said on Wednesday that she expected her native Swedes to be more receptive.
Atrium Ljungberg did acknowledge that many appreciated the painting.
"Some people are positive about the work and see it as playing an important part in the debate around sexuality, the body and gender," the company wrote.
"Others, particularly neighbours, have received the work less well, and experience it as offensive."
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Atrium Ljungberg said it had come to the decision after receiving a barrage of complaints about the five-story high depiction of a bulging erection.
"Of course we care about artistic freedom, but at the same time we must respect the opinion of our closest neighbours," Camilla Klint, the company's marketing head, said in a statement.
"By letting it remain for a short period, we are offering anyone who's interested a chance to experience the work."
The company said that it had been given no prior warning that a giant penis was about to appear on one of its blocks.
"On Wednesday morning, April 11th, we saw Kollektivet Livet's new work for the first time, at exactly the same moment as all the other people who live on Kungsholmen did," it said in its statement.
Under their arrangement, the artist collective had total artistic freedom over the works it commissioned for the wall, at Kronobergsgatan 35 on the central Stockholm island of Kungsholmen.
The decision will come as a disappointment to the artist Carolina Falkholt. Her first giant penis painting, which she plastered on a wall in the Lower East Side of Manhattan in December, lasted only a few days.
She said on Wednesday that she expected her native Swedes to be more receptive.
Atrium Ljungberg did acknowledge that many appreciated the painting.
"Some people are positive about the work and see it as playing an important part in the debate around sexuality, the body and gender," the company wrote.
"Others, particularly neighbours, have received the work less well, and experience it as offensive."
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