Petra (plastic)

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Petra
Marcel Walldorf , 2010
Steel, plastic, textile, automatic pee
100 cm × 80 × 70 cm
Dresden University of Fine Arts

[ Petra ( Memento from May 25, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Link to the picture]
(Please note copyrights )

Petra is a sculpture by the German artist Marcel Walldorf from 2010. The figure, modeled from plastic, silicone, textile and steel shows a policewoman in full protective clothing , who is urinating on the floor in a crouched position with bare abdomen. Petra also has a built-in "automatic pee" through which the plastic can release colored liquid.

Petra received the third prize from the Leinemann Foundation in 2010, which led to great media coverage in Germany and criticism of the artist and the work known as "Pinkelnde Petra". Police and politicians in particular expressed their disapproval.

Appearance and structure

Petra consists of a steel structure that forms the basic framework for the sculpture. It is covered with silicone to give it the impression of a lifelike figure. Walldorf's roommate was the model for the appearance of Petra . The sculpture wears a protective gear consisting of a helmet, balaclava , uniform, boots, gloves, leg guards and a hip holster with an unloaded gas weapon. A police baton is usually leaning against a nearby wall. Overall, the sculpture measures 100 cm × 80 cm × 70 cm.

The policewoman depicted in the sculpture is crouching and grasping her spread knees with both arms, the uniform trousers are pulled down to the thighs and the naked abdomen and the modeled vulva can be seen. The vulva is connected to a mechanism inside the plastic that can drain colored liquid from a tank so that it looks like the policewoman is urinating. In order to avoid damaging the parquet floor, a gelatine puddle was used in the exhibition rooms of the Dresden University of Fine Arts (HfBKD) instead of the “automatic pee” .

background

Walldorf, a student of Eberhard Bosslet at the HfBK Dresden, told the Sächsische Zeitung about his motivation for Petra that the idea came to him when he watched from the window of a friend's apartment how police troops were gathering before operations. Some of the male police officers urinated into the bushes. "When I saw the men, I asked myself what the women were doing in this emergency - especially in their combat gear," said Walldorf. In addition, Petra also shows the vulnerability in addition to the professional routine.

reception

In January 2011, Walldorf received the third prize of the Leinemann Foundation 2010 for education and art, endowed with 1000 euros. Bild reported on it under the title Artist: Here the boundary between friend and foe dissolves. Excitement about the pee policewoman sculpture. As a result, other large daily and weekly newspapers also took up the topic. Police representatives such as the Saxon chairman of the police union (GdP) Hagen Husgen expressed themselves negatively: “I find it shameful that something like this is sold as art. With this you meet all police officers who have to sit down somewhere on duty to relieve themselves because there is no other option. ”Saxony's Interior Minister Markus Ulbig (CDU) said the“ so-called work of art ”was“ an insult to the police officers. ”He was "shocked that there are bodies that award such so-called artists prizes." Walldorf said he received threatening emails.

The founder of the Leinemann Prize, Ralf Leinemann, said: “I suspect the whole excitement is due to the uniform. For a state power that is concerned with maintaining authority, anything that satirizes or humanises a uniform must be unpleasant. "Walldorf himself rejected any intention of provocation or discrimination:" Petra is neither a criticism of the state, nor of society, nor should it hostile to a certain professional group. What struck me the most was the accusation that my work of art was misogynistic and discriminatory. That was not my intention at all. ”On the contrary, he received a lot of encouragement from women for his work.

Brigitte Werneburg from the daily newspaper (taz) found that the figure was not suitable as an object of provocation. The sculpture of the so martially bridled, crouching “Petra” seems much too paradoxical in itself to be able to recognize the exposed state power in it completely flat. In this respect “it has its own aesthetic and intellectual appeal, even if it is a little too much in the wake of Maurizio Cattelan's regular scandalous, anecdotal sculptures”.

Sources and References

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ [1] Website of the artist, accessed on November 21, 2014.
  2. ↑ a b c d e f Meike Fries: Excitement about the peeing Petra. In: Der Tagesspiegel , January 12, 2011. Retrieved January 12, 2011.
  3. ↑ a b Brigitte Werneburg: How do the police pee? In: taz.de , January 12, 2011. Retrieved January 12, 2011.
  4. ↑ Bernhard Schilz: Artist: Here the boundary between friend and foe dissolves. Bild.de, January 6, 2011. Retrieved January 12, 2011.
  5. ↑ "The women are on my side". Spiegel Online , January 12, 2011. Retrieved January 12, 2011.