A favorite of Collier Smith |
From the coordinates of the yellow marker we can say that Cordal's Electoral
Campaign was placed at latitude 52°30'49.16"N, longitude 13°23'33.11"E (+/- 01" I'd
venture). So that's an advance on just saying Berlin, or indeed the Gendarmenmarkt.
And on the right of pic 3 we can see someone with a camera standing right at the green
marker, a logical place to avoid wet feet.
The location that Cordal chose was a significant one, although the precise spot must have
been guided more by the presence of the puddle. In exploring the history of the
Gendarmenmarkt I learned that this area that had been the heart of Berlin. At
http://gendarmenmarkt.de/history-gendarmenmarkt-berlin-mitte-english.htm you can see a
picture of the square circa 1900 where the statue of Schiller was flanked by ornamental
gardens. There it tells us that the Nazi regime removed these gardens and replaced them
with the square stones that we see today. The area was then used as a parade square for
propaganda rallies.
By the end of WW2 the allied bombs had reduced all the buildings to rubble. Schiller
survived, having been removed for safekeeping. From August 1961 the square was
behind the Wall in the East sector where restoration of the great buildings moved much
more slowly than in the West. The above site tells us that it wasn't until 1979 that
reconstruction work began on the concert hall. It re-opened in 1984. Three years later
the French Cathedral was re-built and in 1989 the restored Schiller monument was
unveiled. The German Cathedral was completed in 1996. But in the meantime
something very important had happened. In November 1989 the Wall came down and
Germany was reunified. In celebration a concert was held on December 26 in the
restored Konzerthaus where Leonard Bernstein conducted Beethoven's Ninth
Symphony. The musicians were from both east and west as was the choir that sang the
Ode to Joy. The words are those of Schiller. The audience included a huge overflow
crowd in the square. We have a copy of the recording made on that occasion and
believe me, it is truly remarkable. Even more valued now that the quiz has
unexpectedly taken me to where it took place. What an occasion that must have been!
So there you have it. Thanks as always for an intriguing quiz.
Megan Nielsen
Campaign was placed at latitude 52°30'49.16"N, longitude 13°23'33.11"E (+/- 01" I'd
venture). So that's an advance on just saying Berlin, or indeed the Gendarmenmarkt.
And on the right of pic 3 we can see someone with a camera standing right at the green
marker, a logical place to avoid wet feet.
The location that Cordal chose was a significant one, although the precise spot must have
been guided more by the presence of the puddle. In exploring the history of the
Gendarmenmarkt I learned that this area that had been the heart of Berlin. At
http://gendarmenmarkt.de/history-gendarmenmarkt-berlin-mitte-english.htm you can see a
picture of the square circa 1900 where the statue of Schiller was flanked by ornamental
gardens. There it tells us that the Nazi regime removed these gardens and replaced them
with the square stones that we see today. The area was then used as a parade square for
propaganda rallies.
By the end of WW2 the allied bombs had reduced all the buildings to rubble. Schiller
survived, having been removed for safekeeping. From August 1961 the square was
behind the Wall in the East sector where restoration of the great buildings moved much
more slowly than in the West. The above site tells us that it wasn't until 1979 that
reconstruction work began on the concert hall. It re-opened in 1984. Three years later
the French Cathedral was re-built and in 1989 the restored Schiller monument was
unveiled. The German Cathedral was completed in 1996. But in the meantime
something very important had happened. In November 1989 the Wall came down and
Germany was reunified. In celebration a concert was held on December 26 in the
restored Konzerthaus where Leonard Bernstein conducted Beethoven's Ninth
Symphony. The musicians were from both east and west as was the choir that sang the
Ode to Joy. The words are those of Schiller. The audience included a huge overflow
crowd in the square. We have a copy of the recording made on that occasion and
believe me, it is truly remarkable. Even more valued now that the quiz has
unexpectedly taken me to where it took place. What an occasion that must have been!
So there you have it. Thanks as always for an intriguing quiz.
Megan Nielsen
| XXX |
I like the simplicity of his colander faces. - Nelsen Spickard www.visualnews.com/2012/05/30/colander... |
| XXX |
I like the simplicity of his colander faces. - Nelsen Spickard www.visualnews.com/2012/05/30/colander... |
| XXX |
| XXX |
I like the simplicity of his colander faces. - Nelsen Spickard www.visualnews.com/2012/05/30/colander... |
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| Quiz #484 Results |
| Answers to Quiz #484- July 12, 2015 |
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Congratulations to Our Winners! Margaret Paxton Arthur Hartwell Joe Ruffner Carol Farrant Tony Knapp Ida Sanchez Beth Long Cindy Costigan Maggie Gould Joshua Kreitzer Collier Smith Gus Marsh Nelsen Spickard Ellen Welker Marcel Elias Megan Nielsen Tynan Peterson Janice M. Sellers Grace Hertz and Mary Turner The Fabulous Fletchers! |
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| If you have a picture you'd like us to feature a picture in a future quiz, please email it to us at CFitzp@aol.com. If we use it, you will receive a free analysis of your picture. You will also receive a free Forensic Genealogy CD or a 10% discount towards the purchase of the Forensic Genealogy book. |
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| Isaac Cordal en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Cordal |
| XXX |
How Tony Reversed-Engineered the Puzzle |
| I looked at this image for a long time. It was an odd image. The men were all bald with grey hair except for the man in the center with his back towards the viewer. All the faces looked the same and they all seemed to wear the same suit jacket. They appeared to be disembodied. The flat rectangular stones appear to be just below the surface of the water and yet the viewer can see none of the bodies of the men. If the central group was removed from the image, it would look like a picture of a large puddle with reflections of buildings in it. The refection of the large building and the two standing people seems to be too large in comparison to the central figures. For these reasons I believe this to be a contrived picture. As for the central figures, their focus is on whatever the dark-haired man has his right arm on. My speculation is that it is a reclining figure (baptism comes to mind). If the image is inverted, the large building has statues on columns(?) on the roof which resemble statues of saints. The other buildings are low and resemble eastern European buildings. The arches over the doors or windows behind the two standing men appear to have Eastern influences. Could this be a combination of two or more pictures? Let's see how far I'm off, LOL. My first search in Google Images will be for "group of bald men in water" Wow, that brought up some strange images! Need to shorten the search words a bit. Searched "bald men in water". Strange. ";Baptism". Nope. "Reflection".Nope. "Puddle". Nope. "Puddle with men". Nope. "Puddle bald men". Nope. "Puddle art". Bingo! (Considering my analysis, probably should have tried "puddle art" first.) At urbantimes.co: the sculpture is by Issac Cordal in Berlin and is called Electoral Campaign. To get more information, I Googled "Isaac Cordal". At cementeclipses.com: the sculpture is "Follow the leaders", Berlin. Germany. 2011. Also from the same site "With the simple act of miniaturization and thoughtful placement, Isaac Cordal magically expands the imagination of pedestrians finding his sculptures on the street". My guess as a puddle was correct and the miniaturization accounts for the disproportionate size of the building and the two people. My architectural insight was a little off though. The fact that it is a sculpture set in a puddle accounts for the similarities of the figures and why no bodies are visible. Wikipedia has a good article about him. It says he was born in 1974 in Pontevedra, Galicia, Spain. Now to the quiz page and the questions.. Questions one and two are answered above. For question three I went back to cementeclipses.com to look at his different works. I liked "The Noel Forest" probably because I like nature. This is what he says about that piece: "Noel forest is a forest that does not exist because we cut down their trees each year to adorn our homes. Every year at Christmas we adopt a tree for a few days making a decorative objet. This project is part of my series Waiting for climate change." and also "A number of individual Christmas trees collected from the streets of Grenoble in January become a forest in June". The piece is from: "STREETARTFEST GRENOBLE, Ancien Muse de Peinture, Grenoble, France, 10-21 Juin 2015". Tony Knapp |
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Isaac Cordal (born 1974) is a Spanish
artist whose work involves sculpture and
photography in the urban environment. He
lives between Brussels and Galicia.
Early Life
Cordal was born in 1974 in Pontevedra,
Galicia, Spain. He studied at the University
of Fine Arts Pontevedra, degree in
artist whose work involves sculpture and
photography in the urban environment. He
lives between Brussels and Galicia.
Early Life
Cordal was born in 1974 in Pontevedra,
Galicia, Spain. He studied at the University
of Fine Arts Pontevedra, degree in
sculpture. He studied for five years at the School of Canteiros Pontevedra, a school
dedicated to the conservation of stone crafts. He also trained at Camberwell College of
Arts in London.. Isaac Cordal was a founding member of Alg-a.org, digital art
community from Galicia. He was part of the artistic collective Ludd34560 and Sr.
Pause. He was an active member of the death metal scene in Spain, publishing the
fanzine Exorcism and playing guitar in the band Dismal (1992-1998).
Artistic Career
Cement Eclipses is one of his best known projects consisting of small cement
sculptures photographed in urban space. His figures can be found pasted on top of bus
shelters, walls, cornices ... by its small size (approximately 15 cm) is necessary to pay
much attention to find them. The sculptures serve for the artist as a metaphor to reflect
on politics, bureaucracy, power … They are presented in various absurd situations in
urban space. His work can be seen both in galleries and urban space. Small nomadic
sculptures have been seen in cities like Brussels, London, Berlin, Zagreb, Nantes, San
Jose, Barcelona, Vienna, Malmo, Paris, Milan, Bogotá. His work is a critical reflection
on the idea of progress, of human misery, climate change and the gradual devaluation
of our existence among others topics. Small sculptures represent primarily a social
dedicated to the conservation of stone crafts. He also trained at Camberwell College of
Arts in London.. Isaac Cordal was a founding member of Alg-a.org, digital art
community from Galicia. He was part of the artistic collective Ludd34560 and Sr.
Pause. He was an active member of the death metal scene in Spain, publishing the
fanzine Exorcism and playing guitar in the band Dismal (1992-1998).
Artistic Career
Cement Eclipses is one of his best known projects consisting of small cement
sculptures photographed in urban space. His figures can be found pasted on top of bus
shelters, walls, cornices ... by its small size (approximately 15 cm) is necessary to pay
much attention to find them. The sculptures serve for the artist as a metaphor to reflect
on politics, bureaucracy, power … They are presented in various absurd situations in
urban space. His work can be seen both in galleries and urban space. Small nomadic
sculptures have been seen in cities like Brussels, London, Berlin, Zagreb, Nantes, San
Jose, Barcelona, Vienna, Malmo, Paris, Milan, Bogotá. His work is a critical reflection
on the idea of progress, of human misery, climate change and the gradual devaluation
of our existence among others topics. Small sculptures represent primarily a social
stereotype apparently next to businessman
dressed in suit jacket and middle-aged,
briefcases, timeless beings, as the gray
men of Momo by Michael Ende.
Cement Eclipses Project
Le Voyage a Nantes - Follow the leader
This was a massive installation presented in
the summer of 2013 for Le voyage to
dressed in suit jacket and middle-aged,
briefcases, timeless beings, as the gray
men of Momo by Michael Ende.
Cement Eclipses Project
Le Voyage a Nantes - Follow the leader
This was a massive installation presented in
the summer of 2013 for Le voyage to
Nantes edition, located in Plaza du Boffay, one of the most central of Nantes. The
measurement of the installation was of approximately 20 ms x 20 ms and was
composed by some 2000 figures and buildings of cement on scale semi destroyed. The
installation was a kind of city in ruins.
In a 2012 interview with Agenda Magazine, Cordal explains:
Our gaze is so strongly focused on beautiful, large things, whereas the city also
contains zones that have the potential to be beautiful, or that were really beautiful in the
past, which we overlook. I find it really interesting to go looking for those very places
and via small-scale interventions to develop a different way of looking at our behaviour
as a social mass.”
Waiting For Climate Change
In various projects Isaac Cordal has shown interest in topics related to climate change.
During the triennal Beaufort04 he presented a series of sculptures on the top of a few
poles representing individuals with float waiting for climate change. An ironic proposal
to reflect on our ineffectiveness with the degradation of the planet. During Le Voyage
to Nantes, in summer 2013, he presented in the moat of the ciaastle of the Dukes of
Brittany a floating life-size sculptures. Businessmen represented as a kind of cast adrift.
Politicians Discussing Global Warming
This image of a installation performed by Isaac Cordal in Berlin in 2011 became viral on
the internet under the title Politicians discussing global warming although really is part
of its series called Follow the Leaders.
Cement Bleak Project
Sculptures are made with metal grille with the intention of projecting shadows. One of
his best-known projects is Cement bleak, urban installation held in London in 2009 with
strainers modeled in the shape of the face and that they were projecting their shadow
with the lights of the public lighting.
measurement of the installation was of approximately 20 ms x 20 ms and was
composed by some 2000 figures and buildings of cement on scale semi destroyed. The
installation was a kind of city in ruins.
In a 2012 interview with Agenda Magazine, Cordal explains:
Our gaze is so strongly focused on beautiful, large things, whereas the city also
contains zones that have the potential to be beautiful, or that were really beautiful in the
past, which we overlook. I find it really interesting to go looking for those very places
and via small-scale interventions to develop a different way of looking at our behaviour
as a social mass.”
Waiting For Climate Change
In various projects Isaac Cordal has shown interest in topics related to climate change.
During the triennal Beaufort04 he presented a series of sculptures on the top of a few
poles representing individuals with float waiting for climate change. An ironic proposal
to reflect on our ineffectiveness with the degradation of the planet. During Le Voyage
to Nantes, in summer 2013, he presented in the moat of the ciaastle of the Dukes of
Brittany a floating life-size sculptures. Businessmen represented as a kind of cast adrift.
Politicians Discussing Global Warming
This image of a installation performed by Isaac Cordal in Berlin in 2011 became viral on
the internet under the title Politicians discussing global warming although really is part
of its series called Follow the Leaders.
Cement Bleak Project
Sculptures are made with metal grille with the intention of projecting shadows. One of
his best-known projects is Cement bleak, urban installation held in London in 2009 with
strainers modeled in the shape of the face and that they were projecting their shadow
with the lights of the public lighting.
| ********** |
| Isaac Cordal’s Depiction of Global Warming’s Devastation www.political-correctness.net/isaac-cordals-depiction-of-global-warmings-devastation/ |
Artist Issac Cordal offers us a new
perspective on these issues through his
provocative series of tiny cement
sculptures that challenge our views of
society. Isaac Cordal is famous for
tackling big political issues through a tiny
medium. Cordal installs the 15 to 25 cm
tall sculptures in streets and public spaces
across Europe, then photographs them to
document their presence. Thoughtfully
perspective on these issues through his
provocative series of tiny cement
sculptures that challenge our views of
society. Isaac Cordal is famous for
tackling big political issues through a tiny
medium. Cordal installs the 15 to 25 cm
tall sculptures in streets and public spaces
across Europe, then photographs them to
document their presence. Thoughtfully
arranged, these miniaturized scenes are often arranged as site-specific street art
interventions. This unique body of work meticulously, precariously positions tiny
statuettes in the most unexpected places – on gutters, in puddles, the edges of
buildings, telephone lines, fences, bus stops, even cracks in the road – in abandoned
corners of urban environments. To capture his skepticism of authority, Cordal usually
depicts his tiny figurines as politicians and businessmen in the process of needlessly
trapping themselves in unpleasant situations. To date, Cordal has created 60 miniature
environmental interventions in cities as diverse as Riga, Chiapas, Zagreb, London,
Bogatá, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Málaga, Milan, Nantes, Vienna, Berlin, Brussels, San
José, San Francisco, Orebro, Murcia.
The Theme of Climate Change in Cement Eclipse
The ongoing work — called “Cement Eclipses” — is meant as social critique, he
explains to Phaidon:
It refers to this collective inertia that leads us to think that our small actions cannot
change anything. But I believe that every small act can contribute to a big change.
Many small changes can bring back social attitudes that manipulate the global inertia
and turn it into something more positive.
Without any clues from the author, the social media users have dubbed this tiny puddle
interventions. This unique body of work meticulously, precariously positions tiny
statuettes in the most unexpected places – on gutters, in puddles, the edges of
buildings, telephone lines, fences, bus stops, even cracks in the road – in abandoned
corners of urban environments. To capture his skepticism of authority, Cordal usually
depicts his tiny figurines as politicians and businessmen in the process of needlessly
trapping themselves in unpleasant situations. To date, Cordal has created 60 miniature
environmental interventions in cities as diverse as Riga, Chiapas, Zagreb, London,
Bogatá, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Málaga, Milan, Nantes, Vienna, Berlin, Brussels, San
José, San Francisco, Orebro, Murcia.
The Theme of Climate Change in Cement Eclipse
The ongoing work — called “Cement Eclipses” — is meant as social critique, he
explains to Phaidon:
It refers to this collective inertia that leads us to think that our small actions cannot
change anything. But I believe that every small act can contribute to a big change.
Many small changes can bring back social attitudes that manipulate the global inertia
and turn it into something more positive.
Without any clues from the author, the social media users have dubbed this tiny puddle
sculpture by Spanish street artist Isaac
Cordal “Politicians discussing global
warming.” The image has gone viral on
Facebook, Twitter and was spreaded all
around the Internet. With sea levels
projected to rise up to three feet by the
end of the century, the picture seems to
be a dark reminder of our collective
failure to act on climate change. While
Cordal “Politicians discussing global
warming.” The image has gone viral on
Facebook, Twitter and was spreaded all
around the Internet. With sea levels
projected to rise up to three feet by the
end of the century, the picture seems to
be a dark reminder of our collective
failure to act on climate change. While
"Politicians discussing global warming" turns out to be a misnomer, it’s surprisingly
attuned to Cordal’s vision. As design professor Stuart Candy comments on his blog:
Intriguing how one audience member recontextualising the artist’s work with an
alternative title (whether accidentally or deliberately doesn’t really matter) gives that
work startling potency and a new lease of life.
Waiting for Climate Change
Cordal has even addressed climate change in some of his past work. A 2012 installation
— “Waiting for climate change” — depicts tiny figures along the Belgian coastline
confronting global warming with varying degrees of concern. Described as a
“Lilliputian army which attests to the end of an era” by David Moinard. In this series
Cordal created a set of ephemeral and partially submerged installations to draw attention
to rising sea level change. Laced with black humor, these grim and apocalyptic scenes
show the consequences of inaction and apathy to environmental issues. The theme of
rising floodwaters and drowning are themes repeated throughout his work that
reference both climate change and the state of our sinking society.
A 2013 installation of the same name depicts life-sized figures in business suits floating
in the Château des Ducs de Bretagne moat, in France. “Impassive and blasé, they
absently watch the water level rise,” notes the artist’s website.
Of course it’s not all of Cordal’s interventions that address the question of climate
change directly. But every one forces critical reflection upon the ecological impact of
our irresponsible consumer behaviour, which is directly responsible for the exploitation
of finite natural resources. As an existential artist, Cordal is obsessed with the question:
What are we doing to our world?
In addition, Cordal perched 10 small figurines atop wooden pedestals, wearing scuba
goggles or flotation devices, gazing impassively at the horizon. Still others occupy
empty rooms in a dilapidated 1930’s-era beachfront villa. Painted in drab business suits,
attuned to Cordal’s vision. As design professor Stuart Candy comments on his blog:
Intriguing how one audience member recontextualising the artist’s work with an
alternative title (whether accidentally or deliberately doesn’t really matter) gives that
work startling potency and a new lease of life.
Waiting for Climate Change
Cordal has even addressed climate change in some of his past work. A 2012 installation
— “Waiting for climate change” — depicts tiny figures along the Belgian coastline
confronting global warming with varying degrees of concern. Described as a
“Lilliputian army which attests to the end of an era” by David Moinard. In this series
Cordal created a set of ephemeral and partially submerged installations to draw attention
to rising sea level change. Laced with black humor, these grim and apocalyptic scenes
show the consequences of inaction and apathy to environmental issues. The theme of
rising floodwaters and drowning are themes repeated throughout his work that
reference both climate change and the state of our sinking society.
A 2013 installation of the same name depicts life-sized figures in business suits floating
in the Château des Ducs de Bretagne moat, in France. “Impassive and blasé, they
absently watch the water level rise,” notes the artist’s website.
Of course it’s not all of Cordal’s interventions that address the question of climate
change directly. But every one forces critical reflection upon the ecological impact of
our irresponsible consumer behaviour, which is directly responsible for the exploitation
of finite natural resources. As an existential artist, Cordal is obsessed with the question:
What are we doing to our world?
In addition, Cordal perched 10 small figurines atop wooden pedestals, wearing scuba
goggles or flotation devices, gazing impassively at the horizon. Still others occupy
empty rooms in a dilapidated 1930’s-era beachfront villa. Painted in drab business suits,
most of Cordal’s anonymous clay
figurines clutch vestiges of their uniform
existence: briefcases and cell phones.
Many also wear life preservers around
their waists and arms, ready for the flood.
Cordal’s docile figures remind me of
Huxley’s soma-induced Brave New
World, where everyone (except the
emotional Shakespeare-inspired Savage) is
submissive, obedient, and acquiescent.
figurines clutch vestiges of their uniform
existence: briefcases and cell phones.
Many also wear life preservers around
their waists and arms, ready for the flood.
Cordal’s docile figures remind me of
Huxley’s soma-induced Brave New
World, where everyone (except the
emotional Shakespeare-inspired Savage) is
submissive, obedient, and acquiescent.
| I looked at this image for a long time. It was an odd image. The men were all bald with grey hair except for the man in the center with his back towards the viewer. All the faces looked the same and they all seemed to wear the same suit jacket. They appeared to be disembodied. The flat rectangular stones appear to be just below the surface of the water and yet the viewer can see none of the bodies of the men. If the central group was removed from the image, it would look like a picture of a large puddle with reflections of buildings in it. The refection of the large building and the two standing people seems to be too large in comparison to the central figures. For these reasons I believe this to be a contrived picture. As for the central figures, their focus is on whatever the dark-haired man has his right arm on. My speculation is that it is a reclining figure (baptism comes to mind). If the image is inverted, the large building has statues on columns(?) on the roof which resemble statues of saints. The other buildings are low and resemble eastern European buildings. The arches over the doors or windows behind the two standing men appear to have Eastern influences. Could this be a combination of two or more pictures? Let's see how far I'm off, LOL. My first search in Google Images will be for "group of bald men in water" Wow, that brought up some strange images! Need to shorten the search words a bit. Searched "bald men in water". Strange. ";Baptism". Nope. "Reflection".Nope. "Puddle". Nope. "Puddle with men". Nope. "Puddle bald men". Nope. "Puddle art". Bingo! (Considering my analysis, probably should have tried "puddle art" first.) At urbantimes.co: the sculpture is by Issac Cordal in Berlin and is called Electoral Campaign. To get more information, I Googled "Isaac Cordal". At cementeclipses.com: the sculpture is "Follow the leaders", Berlin. Germany. 2011. Also from the same site "With the simple act of miniaturization and thoughtful placement, Isaac Cordal magically expands the imagination of pedestrians finding his sculptures on the street". My guess as a puddle was correct and the miniaturization accounts for the disproportionate size of the building and the two people. My architectural insight was a little off though. The fact that it is a sculpture set in a puddle accounts for the similarities of the figures and why no bodies are visible. Wikipedia has a good article about him. It says he was born in 1974 in Pontevedra, Galicia, Spain. Now to the quiz page and the questions.. Questions one and two are answered above. For question three I went back to cementeclipses.com to look at his different works. I liked "The Noel Forest" probably because I like nature. This is what he says about that piece: "Noel forest is a forest that does not exist because we cut down their trees each year to adorn our homes. Every year at Christmas we adopt a tree for a few days making a decorative objet. This project is part of my series Waiting for climate change." and also "A number of individual Christmas trees collected from the streets of Grenoble in January become a forest in June". The piece is from: "STREETARTFEST GRENOBLE, Ancien Muse de Peinture, Grenoble, France, 10-21 Juin 2015". Tony Knapp |
| XXX |
Galician Coast cementeclipses.com/Works/galician-coast/ The backgrounds are lovely. Really beautiful and creative. :) - Beth Long |
| XXX |
I like the simplicity of his colander faces. - Nelsen Spickard www.visualnews.com/2012/05/30/colander... |
| XXX |
Hard to say, since I've never heard of him before this quiz, but this one struck me - Janice M Sellers hwww.art-days.com/isaac-cordal-miniaturization-street-art/ |
| XXX |
I like the simplicity of his colander faces. - Nelsen Spickard www.visualnews.com/2012/05/30/colander... |
| XXX |
A favorite of Maggie Gould and Gus Marsh |
| The School cementeclipses.com/Works/school/ |
| ********** |
| An Amazing Photo Analysis by Quizmaster Megan Neilsen |
I didn't recognise the work or context first up. After numerous abortive attempts at
searching <busts pool ruins artwork> and similar I "cheated" by doing a reverse image
search on a clip of just one of the tiny heads. Whereupon all was revealed and I
realised that I had indeed seen something previously of Isaac Cordal's fascinating and
challenging work. Not this particular installation, but certainly some of the others had
crossed my path.
Once up and running it all came together, the hardest bit being establishing where the
figures had been placed. That wasn't apparent to me on the artist's site cementeclipses.
com/works/ but after some chasing www.facebook.com/SierraClub/photos/a.
72328147571.77213.6204742571/10152042632537572/ gave me the location as
Gendarmenmarkt square in Berlin in 2011. The same site gave a link to issuu.
com/cmnteclps/docs/cmnt_berlin which proved invaluable in what then I went on to
do. But before I elaborate, let me set out the basic answers.
1. Two names for the artwork are “Politicians discussing global warming” — that’s
what social media users dubbed this tiny puddle sculpture when it went viral. As it
turns out, Cordal's sculpture was actually called “Electoral campaign” and it's part of a
larger street art installation called “Follow the leaders". The tiny cement figures,
arranged in bleak scenes of urban disintegration, represent the faceless businessmen
who run our capitalist global order www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/culture-
lifestyle/140325/street-art-politicians-discussing-global-warming. Actually "Follow the
leaders" is in turn just part of Isaac Cordal's project known as "Cement Eclipses"
started in 2006 in Barcelona www.lacultura.cc/blog/archives/08-2011. So in fact there's
a choice of four names ... from the specific to the general.
2. Isaac Cordal is the artist. The Gendarmenmarkt square in Berlin was the location.
3. Difficult choice. There are so many evocative representations to choose from. I've
decided on a recent work found with comments at inhabitat.com/isaac-cordal-depicts-
for-profit-universities-as-horrifying-dystopian-factories/ Don't get me started on this
this topic ...
So what to elaborate on? I choose to leave my answer to Q3 (and my soapbox) well
alone. As for Q1 I can remark that despite it being others who renamed his work,
Cordal has actually focused explicitly on climate change inhabitat.com/isaac-cordals-
incredible-tiny-sculptures-offer-a-chilling-view-of-climate-change/ As is fitting. When
it comes to Q2, there's a lot out there on the artist and his oeuvre to date that is easily
found (incluting a neat account of how the figures are made at www.wired.co.
uk/news/archive/2011-06/09/isaac-cordal-street-sculpture/viewgallery/268086). So
instead I decided to try some forensic photo analysis to see if I could come up with a
more precise location that just the Gendarmenmarkt. Here goes:
The site issuu.com/cmnteclps/docs/cmnt_berlin (mentioned above) leads to pictures
that show the tiny sculptures in their broader context.
I'll refer to these as 1, 2, and 3:
searching <busts pool ruins artwork> and similar I "cheated" by doing a reverse image
search on a clip of just one of the tiny heads. Whereupon all was revealed and I
realised that I had indeed seen something previously of Isaac Cordal's fascinating and
challenging work. Not this particular installation, but certainly some of the others had
crossed my path.
Once up and running it all came together, the hardest bit being establishing where the
figures had been placed. That wasn't apparent to me on the artist's site cementeclipses.
com/works/ but after some chasing www.facebook.com/SierraClub/photos/a.
72328147571.77213.6204742571/10152042632537572/ gave me the location as
Gendarmenmarkt square in Berlin in 2011. The same site gave a link to issuu.
com/cmnteclps/docs/cmnt_berlin which proved invaluable in what then I went on to
do. But before I elaborate, let me set out the basic answers.
1. Two names for the artwork are “Politicians discussing global warming” — that’s
what social media users dubbed this tiny puddle sculpture when it went viral. As it
turns out, Cordal's sculpture was actually called “Electoral campaign” and it's part of a
larger street art installation called “Follow the leaders". The tiny cement figures,
arranged in bleak scenes of urban disintegration, represent the faceless businessmen
who run our capitalist global order www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/culture-
lifestyle/140325/street-art-politicians-discussing-global-warming. Actually "Follow the
leaders" is in turn just part of Isaac Cordal's project known as "Cement Eclipses"
started in 2006 in Barcelona www.lacultura.cc/blog/archives/08-2011. So in fact there's
a choice of four names ... from the specific to the general.
2. Isaac Cordal is the artist. The Gendarmenmarkt square in Berlin was the location.
3. Difficult choice. There are so many evocative representations to choose from. I've
decided on a recent work found with comments at inhabitat.com/isaac-cordal-depicts-
for-profit-universities-as-horrifying-dystopian-factories/ Don't get me started on this
this topic ...
So what to elaborate on? I choose to leave my answer to Q3 (and my soapbox) well
alone. As for Q1 I can remark that despite it being others who renamed his work,
Cordal has actually focused explicitly on climate change inhabitat.com/isaac-cordals-
incredible-tiny-sculptures-offer-a-chilling-view-of-climate-change/ As is fitting. When
it comes to Q2, there's a lot out there on the artist and his oeuvre to date that is easily
found (incluting a neat account of how the figures are made at www.wired.co.
uk/news/archive/2011-06/09/isaac-cordal-street-sculpture/viewgallery/268086). So
instead I decided to try some forensic photo analysis to see if I could come up with a
more precise location that just the Gendarmenmarkt. Here goes:
The site issuu.com/cmnteclps/docs/cmnt_berlin (mentioned above) leads to pictures
that show the tiny sculptures in their broader context.
I'll refer to these as 1, 2, and 3:
Hmm ...
In pics 1 and 2 we can see the reflection of a domed building. OK, good start. Let's
look for other pictures of the square to identify it. Whoops, there's a trap. The
Gendarmenmarkt indeed has a domed building, but there are TWO of them, the twin
cathedrals known as the Deutsche Dom and the Französischer Dom. And at a glance
they look very alike. Here's a panorama (from Panoramio) :
In pics 1 and 2 we can see the reflection of a domed building. OK, good start. Let's
look for other pictures of the square to identify it. Whoops, there's a trap. The
Gendarmenmarkt indeed has a domed building, but there are TWO of them, the twin
cathedrals known as the Deutsche Dom and the Französischer Dom. And at a glance
they look very alike. Here's a panorama (from Panoramio) :
So which one is reflecting in the puddle? Well, it turns out that in pic 1 it's the French
cathedral and in pic 2 it's the German cathedral. The installation appears to be on a line
that near enough joins their central doors. So can we pinpoint its position along that
line? Indeed we can.
Here we have to introduce the two other major features of the square, the Konzerthaus
and the statue of Schiller. They are in the centre of the panorama. After examining
other pictures of the square it becomes clear that in the right of pic 2 we can see the
steps of the Konzerthaus and in the left of pic 3 we can see the wrought iron railing that
surrounds the statue of Schiller. The count of the railings and the configuration of the
flagging in these two pictures allows a precise identification of the the spot. And this
can be verified from the reflections of the more distant buildings that can be seen in the
quiz pic. Here is a clip from Google earth that shows the location of the installation, and
of the photographer. A line drawn through those two points ends up on the buildings
that we see reflected.
cathedral and in pic 2 it's the German cathedral. The installation appears to be on a line
that near enough joins their central doors. So can we pinpoint its position along that
line? Indeed we can.
Here we have to introduce the two other major features of the square, the Konzerthaus
and the statue of Schiller. They are in the centre of the panorama. After examining
other pictures of the square it becomes clear that in the right of pic 2 we can see the
steps of the Konzerthaus and in the left of pic 3 we can see the wrought iron railing that
surrounds the statue of Schiller. The count of the railings and the configuration of the
flagging in these two pictures allows a precise identification of the the spot. And this
can be verified from the reflections of the more distant buildings that can be seen in the
quiz pic. Here is a clip from Google earth that shows the location of the installation, and
of the photographer. A line drawn through those two points ends up on the buildings
that we see reflected.
| Rembrances from Nature www.flickr.com/photos/27963055@N02/4095479685/ |