Spider of Bürkliplatz
From Middle-Earth (bronze and steel), Shelob’s kinder sister
chose not to go after Frodo Baggins but to tower over humans instead…
Back in the human world, I asked random Zurich-dweller-looking people passing by with
prams about the grace which brought a giant spider this place of honour. One of
them gave me this fantastic story… Once upon a time in medieval Zurich, everyone
was afraid of the Black Death – today known as the bubonic plague – and they
blamed the black spiders for carrying it! Now, I haven’t seen any spiders at
all in Zurich. Indeed it is so clean I doubt that even a web of spider silk can
be found anywhere at all. So maybe the medieval mass extermination of spiders must
be the reason for this. Anyway, I digress… It was told me, as a wrap up of a
charmingly woven story, that the giant Zurich Lake spider is a monument to
those who died of the Black Death. Now that I've just sold this story to you guys,
how many of you would be takers for it?
It actually turns out that the spider is called Maman, and
Maman is on tour! Standing at 33 feet high with 26 marble eggs in her belly (for
whoever can see it), it is a very well travelled spider and one of the most popular
pieces of contemporary art the Homo sapiens have. I guess just as many people
must have gone Woeeeuuuwwww….. Wow for the size and eeeuuuwwww….. for the
turban-like spider body. Her creator of note is Louise Bourgeois who created
the spider in honour of her mother… Wow! I’ll never look at my mom the same way
again after this. And it turns out that I am lucky to cross this way on this
day because Maman will be off again soon!
For anyone who is interested in a bit more Maman, here’s a
link to the English translation of the German newspaper article: http://www.worldcrunch.com/giant-spider-weaves-its-way-around-world/3322
No comments:
Post a Comment