In an attempt to unveil the contradictions existent in daily life–from our appreciation of aesthetics to our Western moralist tradition–artist/sculptor Dietrich Wegner has created a playhouse in the form of a tall mushroom cloud. Because nothing spells doom like a 22-feet high fluffy Poly-fil playhouse, right? More after the jump!

The playhouse is an early surrogate for the womb, an enclave to shelter its inhabitants from their fears and insecurities. Juxtapose this image of freedom and escape with the hellish exahust of a mushroom cloud, and the fragility of the former is exposed. For Wegner, we endeavor to great lengths to rescue these places from destruction, going so far as to administering terror and fetishizing violence.

Wegner’s work seeks to prompt the viewer to experience the “contradiction between what our eyes enjoy and what our mind knows.” He does this by giving form, usually stylized or caricatured, to the nagging, underlying moralistic dichotomies which belie the construction of our cultural history.

[via Laughing Squid]

by Samuel Medina

posted in New Projects news Uncategorized

tagged Art, atomic bomb, Dietrich Wegner, installation, mushroom cloud, playhuse

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