The mysterious and intriguing figure of Ultra an
8-meter high effigy can be found in front of the Cascade-complex on the
Emmasingel in Groningen. She was brought to Groningen by boat all the way from
Rotterdam and unveiled in October 2004. Ultra is the creation of Silvia B a
Rotterdam based artist.
Commissioned
by patrons from both the private and the public sector, the CBK (Centrum van
Beeldende Kunst – The Center of Expressive Art), RGD-Noord, and Amstelland
Vastgoed. The project was meant to contradict and contrast with the postmodern
architecturally dominated area of the buildings in the Cascade-complex, and to
be big enough to be visible at quite a distance. The whole project was realized
with a total budget of €200.000.
Ultra was
made in cast iron with white polyurethane painted skin and dressed in stainless
and corten steel. A study of Celtic and tribal tattoos brought Silvia to the
idea of using spiral forms in the skirt and these appear in seven different
sizes all over the preformed chicken wire ‘crinoline skirt’, giving it a very
realistic effect.
At first
glance she seems to represent a very elegant woman in period costume with a
palely powdered face, large bustle and crinoline skirt, but on closer
examination the piercing just under the bottom lip, the praying mantis
spike-like arms on which she supports herself, and her superfluous dangling
little legs conjures up images of a futuristic world where the human body seems
to have disturbingly mutated.
Silvia B’s
inspiration for this image comes from the present day scientific developments,
which contribute to the ‘make able’, person. As to her thought processes when
creating and producing her work Silvia says: ‘I work on the borders of
beauty. Fusing conflicting elements, the sculptures question our current
concept of aesthetics’. Nevertheless this anti beauty does has an imposing
charm.
First
published in the Connections magazine #10
Winter 2006
View all issues of Connections HERE (editor, designer, illustrator: 2006-2013)
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