ANNA LIDBERG

CUTE
Site-specifik sculpture, Stockholms läns museum. 2008

Why do we sometimes choose not to see people in need? Why is it so much easier to sympathize with animals having a difficult time than human beeings? Is it that they might be helpless? Or is it maybe because they are cute?
When the county museum in Stockholm called for entries to the exhibition "Djur i Centrum" (double meaning in swedish, means both "animals in focus" and "animals in the center of town") I applied with an idea. It was as a reaction to the theme, where the museum planned to show street art but choosed to only focus on art showing animals, which in this case mostly was cute, funny looking and inoffensive works. My idea got chosen and placed outside of the museum.
 The sculpture "CUTE" was holding an vending machine for toys where the visitors for five swedish crowns could buy a note. Each note had quote from a person who had experienced that people choose not to see him/her. Most of the notes were written by people who are homeless.
Instead of making the sculpture human-like I choose to give it bodyparts from a teddybear, making it cute and attractive, particularly to children.