Five cast-iron urns placed in an arc along Kungsportsavenyn (The Old Avenue) in Bältesspännarparken, in front of the entrance to Trädgårdsföreningen Gothenburg 2013.
Along Södra vägen, five of Sivert's cast-iron urns have been placed in a semicircle. Unfortunately, these have not been placed on the plinths that lift them from the gravel and that are part of the concept. This has probably happened because the city's park administration and the city's artistic council have not consulted each other. Not uncommon, but regrettable. One can hope that Gothenburg's Park and Nature Administration remedies this … in due course.
"Bältesspännarparken has gotten its name from the renowned struggle between life and death. The Belt Wrestlers, or The Belt Wrestler Group, is a national romantic sculpture by Johan Peter Molin (1814–1873) from the mid-19th century depicting two male figures in the mythical ancient duel form "belt wrestling".
The sculpture became Molin's great breakthrough as an artist and was for a period immensely popular throughout Europe. The sculpture was made in several versions and is, in addition to being exhibited alongside the city's main thoroughfare Kungsportsavenyn in Bältesspännarparken in Gothenburg, also outside the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm, outside Vänersborgs museum, and in Mästarnas Park in Hällefors.
(Sivert's urns can allude to the struggle if one associates the shape of the urn with "something [leather strap] being tightened around the urn's body".
/JÖ
These cast-iron urns were supplied by Månsarp Gjuteri.
Photographer: Jan Öqvist
⊙ View location⊙ Göteborg