Flying statue lands at Kopano

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Published on Thursday, 13 October 2011 17:25

Written by Stephen Horn

It’s a story which might well have jumped right from the pages of Sartre’s The Room, in which the hero of the story thinks he’s seeing flying statues. On Monday last week, a life-sized sculpture depicting a young girl ready for a swim mysteriously appeared in Kopano Residence’s front garden. She has her arms spread wide as though she is about to soar into the heavens, which only further set imaginations alight as to how she transported herself to the UCT lower campus residence in the dead of night.

“I arrived here in the morning at my usual time of 7.30 – 8.00 to see the figurine outside,” said Kopano’s Residence Facilities Officer, Rosy Williams. “Initially I thought it was a house initiative until we asked some of the students, who said it had been stolen. We have all sorts of things which land up here, often traffic signs, so we thought some of the boys must have got it from a nearby public swimming pool.”

Extraordinarily, the mystery was quickly resolved: word about the statue reached the artist, Marieke Prinsloo, in a matter of days. “The statue is one of many similar sculptures which form part of the practical component of my Master’s degree... it draws inspiration from the artwork seen in public spaces in Europe, and the Cape Town promenade is such a magnificent location that I actually funded the entire project from my own pocket.” Prinsloo said the linear aspect of the promenade allowed for her to tell a story which she hoped would “add to the dialogue of our country in a fairytale and childlike kind of way” to illustrate her “naive hope for this country, for staying in it and making a difference.”

A witness who was present when the statue was carried into the residence said that two Glenres students and one Kopano student were responsible for the artwork’s arrival. VARSITY was able to reach the students involved in the “kidnapping” of the statue, which they affectionately named “Rosy.” “One of the guys noticed the statue was a little bit loose... we thought both ‘this could fall and hurt someone’ and also ‘hey, free statue!’ so decided to take it back,” said one of the students involved, speaking on condition of anonymity. It was a miracle for the statue to have travelled as far as it has, considering Kopano’s turnstile entrance and of course its weight.

It is hardly surprising that the statue was so heavy, as it is cast in reinforced concrete. Her reaction to the theft of her artwork? Suprisingly, Prinsloo is quite delighted about the theft, “As my husband said, you’re not a national icon until your work is stolen by students!” Prinsloo visited Kopano last week with the base of the statue, tied a ribbon around it and donated it to the residence hoping it would become part of Kopano’s “memorabilia.”

Either way, the work will definitely attract a couple of shocked faces and laughs as visitors walk through the doors of the residence. Who would have thought Kopano would turn into an art gallery?