# Vienna, Austria unveils a 2 million Euro statue that looks like a compilation of elementary-school art projects **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 30, 2023, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vienna-austria-unveils-a-2-million-euro-statue-that-looks-like-a-compilation-of-elementary-school-art-projects/992333 "2023-10-30T22:48:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2023, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vienna-austria-unveils-a-2-million-euro-statue-that-looks-like-a-compilation-of-elementary-school-art-projects/992333/1 "2023-10-30T22:48:59Z")
Yeah, I know this is the Daily Caller. It’s where I saw the story on another site, and this really does need to be seen to be believed. > **[Vienna Blows Nearly $2 Million On The Ugliest Fountain You’ve Ever Seen](https://dailycaller.com/2023/10/30/vienna-austria-fountain-modern-art/)** > > The city initially thought the project would cost 2.1 million euros, but the fountain, which includes 33 abstract humanoid figures, came in under budget. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2023, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vienna-austria-unveils-a-2-million-euro-statue-that-looks-like-a-compilation-of-elementary-school-art-projects/992333/2 "2023-10-30T22:58:17Z")
You just don’t understand Jonestown Existentialism. Besides, the project came in _under_ budget. ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2023, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vienna-austria-unveils-a-2-million-euro-statue-that-looks-like-a-compilation-of-elementary-school-art-projects/992333/3 "2023-10-30T22:58:24Z")
According to Margaret Wolfe Hungerford, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2023, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vienna-austria-unveils-a-2-million-euro-statue-that-looks-like-a-compilation-of-elementary-school-art-projects/992333/4 "2023-10-30T23:26:57Z")
I didn’t hate it. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2023, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vienna-austria-unveils-a-2-million-euro-statue-that-looks-like-a-compilation-of-elementary-school-art-projects/992333/5 "2023-10-30T23:34:33Z")
So, I went looking for another picture somewhere else, maybe by somebody who didn’t hate it. And . . . um . . . I’m afraid I think the Caller has a point. [https://www.koer.or.at/en/projects/wewater/](https://www.koer.or.at/en/projects/wewater/) (Click on the picture in the article to see it larger.) However, I don’t live in Vienna; so what I think of it isn’t really relevant. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2023, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vienna-austria-unveils-a-2-million-euro-statue-that-looks-like-a-compilation-of-elementary-school-art-projects/992333/6 "2023-10-30T23:35:54Z")
It looks unusual, but not amateurish (in my opinion). ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2023, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vienna-austria-unveils-a-2-million-euro-statue-that-looks-like-a-compilation-of-elementary-school-art-projects/992333/7 "2023-10-30T23:40:30Z")
> [@dolphinboy](#): > > According to Margaret Wolfe Hungerford, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”. I think a fountain of a Beholder would have looked better. Plus, think of all the water spouts you could have with all the eyes. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2023, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vienna-austria-unveils-a-2-million-euro-statue-that-looks-like-a-compilation-of-elementary-school-art-projects/992333/8 "2023-10-30T23:59:38Z")
Huh. I think it’s pretty neat. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2023, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vienna-austria-unveils-a-2-million-euro-statue-that-looks-like-a-compilation-of-elementary-school-art-projects/992333/9 "2023-10-31T00:19:30Z")
Personally I think this review sounds better in the original German, “Die menschliche Sprache hat keine Worte, um zu beschreiben, wie abscheulich hässlich das ist.” ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2023, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vienna-austria-unveils-a-2-million-euro-statue-that-looks-like-a-compilation-of-elementary-school-art-projects/992333/10 "2023-10-31T00:37:27Z")
I just realized that fountain reminds me of roadside places in the U.S. that sell concrete statuary of all sorts of things, like animals (Labrador retrievers, monkeys, goats, birds, raccoons etc.), Catholic saints, Buddha figures, mermaids, cute widdle concrete children holding concrete baskets, giant spheres, artichokes etc. [![](https://i2.wp.com/dixieyardworks.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/20180621_134159-1.jpg?ssl=1) ](https://i2.wp.com/dixieyardworks.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/20180621_134159-1.jpg?ssl=1) The Vienna project artists went for spacier stuff, but the effect is similar. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2023, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vienna-austria-unveils-a-2-million-euro-statue-that-looks-like-a-compilation-of-elementary-school-art-projects/992333/11 "2023-10-31T00:59:51Z")
Behind the speaker you literally have the poop emoji. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2023, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vienna-austria-unveils-a-2-million-euro-statue-that-looks-like-a-compilation-of-elementary-school-art-projects/992333/12 "2023-10-31T01:02:51Z")
I like one I coined: _It would take an entire brand-new language to adequately describe how ugly that is._ But, hey, at least they’re not as bad (IMHO) as [UC Davis Eggheads](https://www.ucdavis.edu/campus-life/arts-culture/eggheads). When my mother saw the one in front of the administration building, she said, It looks like a penis with a face and the foreskin pulled down." ---
**Author:** ![SailorHG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecae2f/32.png) [@SailorHG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SailorHG)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2023, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vienna-austria-unveils-a-2-million-euro-statue-that-looks-like-a-compilation-of-elementary-school-art-projects/992333/13 "2023-10-31T01:13:11Z")
I bet it doesn’t last a month before someone vandalises it. There’s going to be a lot of ongoing repair and maintainance costs with that… thing. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2023, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vienna-austria-unveils-a-2-million-euro-statue-that-looks-like-a-compilation-of-elementary-school-art-projects/992333/14 "2023-10-31T01:19:04Z")
This fountain could only be described in Vogon poetry. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2023, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vienna-austria-unveils-a-2-million-euro-statue-that-looks-like-a-compilation-of-elementary-school-art-projects/992333/15 "2023-10-31T01:42:59Z")
Pikers. You want an ugly fountain? Here’s an ugly fountain. > **[Vaillancourt Fountain and the Embarcadero](http://joetacoma.blogspot.com/2012/11/vaillancourt-fountain-san-francisco.html)** > > Vaillancourt Fountain, San Francisco The sculpture looked like the ruins of the adjacent Embar... Located right on the San Francisco bay near the foot of Market St. In this view you can see the Ferry Building nearby. The cost, in inflation-adjusted dollars, was $2,355,916. So almost the same. I think we got a lot more ugly for our dollars than they did for their euros. I’m probably missing the point of this story, but I can’t read (or hear) the words “ugly fountain” without picturing this one. ---
**Author:** ![Apodder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/apodder/32/17727_2.png) [@Apodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apodder)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2023, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vienna-austria-unveils-a-2-million-euro-statue-that-looks-like-a-compilation-of-elementary-school-art-projects/992333/16 "2023-10-31T01:48:15Z")
That’s what I thought I saw, too. In the small pic on my phone it looks vaguely obscene… ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2023, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vienna-austria-unveils-a-2-million-euro-statue-that-looks-like-a-compilation-of-elementary-school-art-projects/992333/17 "2023-10-31T03:38:57Z")
They should have stuck with sausages. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2023, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vienna-austria-unveils-a-2-million-euro-statue-that-looks-like-a-compilation-of-elementary-school-art-projects/992333/18 "2023-10-31T03:55:04Z")
Maybe it’s just extreme lack of artistic taste on my part, but while I don’t think that new Viennese fountain looks lovely or exquisite or anything, it would never have occurred to me to describe it as ugly. As hogarth said, it certainly doesn’t look amateurish: the juxtaposition of realistic human figures with cartoonish and fantasy ones is very obviously deliberate and done with technical skill. I will concur, though, that the fountain gives an uglier impression in the shots with people prominent in the foreground than it does when photographed by itself. I think a lot of public-works sculptors these days are perhaps too focused on what their artwork looks like on its own as a “gallery” piece, and neglect the importance of making it serve as a harmonious or pleasing background for human figures. If it looks significantly less good with a bunch of people between it and the viewer, it’s not good public sculpture. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2023, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vienna-austria-unveils-a-2-million-euro-statue-that-looks-like-a-compilation-of-elementary-school-art-projects/992333/19 "2023-10-31T04:04:00Z")
“Human language has no words to describe how hideously ugly this is,” That sums it up pretty neatly. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2023, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vienna-austria-unveils-a-2-million-euro-statue-that-looks-like-a-compilation-of-elementary-school-art-projects/992333/20 "2023-10-31T04:09:49Z")
That fountain is **awesome**. The one in Vienna is “playful.” I like it. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vienna-austria-unveils-a-2-million-euro-statue-that-looks-like-a-compilation-of-elementary-school-art-projects/992333.md?page=2)