I have great desire, My desire is great

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I have great desire, My desire is great (dt about. I have a great desire, my desire is great ) is in the English city of Brighton befindliches work of art in the public space of Naoimh Looney. The work created in 2008 is only intended as a temporary installation.

object

I have great desire My desire is great (August 2016)

The work of art exists in the form of steel letters, which in the form of printed letters in a line form the two sentences that are lined up. The metal letters were mounted a little east of the city center of Brighton on the coast road Madeira Drive, visible from afar, on a retaining wall facing the Marine Parade road above.

meaning

Literal meaning

The phrase I have great desire, my desire is great can be interpreted several times in terms of its literal meaning, since the two uses of the word great have or can have different meanings: on the one hand, 'large' in the sense of 'considerable, strong, very', on the other hand, 'great' in the sense of 'significant, important' as well as in the sense of 'super, great, great'.

The statement also attracts attention insofar as the common use ( collocation ) of the two words great and desire does not correspond to the predominant usage. Rather, the adjective strong ( a strong desire ) is used to express a great desire .

Intended effect

The metal letters reflect the sky towards the sea and the people passing by on the street. No specific speaker can be assigned to the statement in first-person form, so that every viewer, together with the reflective character of the metal, can feel addressed by the anonymously uttered words. The statement is intended to remind everyone of their own wishes and desires.

The metal letters are supposed to symbolically reflect the city and its inhabitants towards the expanse of the sea. Brighton has historically been considered a glamorous seaside resort and is now a popular and much-visited travel and excursion destination. In addition, the city is currently a reservoir for people who are not oriented towards the majority heterosexuality ( LGBT ). The word desire also has a strong sexual connotation in one meaning variant . This is intended to address the diversity of the demands of these groups of people and social classes.

The time factor is also taken into account. The inevitable decay of the metal letters is interpreted as absorption into the environment. The reflective character of the metal has already faded.

proof

  1. ↑ On the meanings of great cf. bilingual dictionaries as well as translations on www.dict.cc and dict.leo.org .
  2. ↑ a b For the meanings and typical use of desire cf. the information in the Collins Cobuild Learner's Dictionary , second edition, Glasgow: Harper Collins 2003, ISBN 0-00-712640-9 and merriam webster, based on corpus-linguistic analysis of language data .
  3. ↑ Viewing of the artwork in August 2016.


Coordinates: 50 ° 49 ′ 8 ″  N , 0 ° 7 ′ 52 ″  W.