Mean Average

The massive sculpture “Mean Average” by Tony Cragg, a confident artistic position despite its title, is situated on Remigiusplatz in Bonn, which is surrounded by restaurants and retailers. Its organic-looking shapes, reminiscent of rock or sand formations, make no reference to its surroundings. This is a powerful abstract form with a purely aesthetic function that seems to come from another world. Columns consisting of more or less extended layers of organic discs are grouped around a central axis, ascending in a screw-like movement. This creates a polymorphic whole fused into a complex form. Considering the enigmatic title, one could be reminded of a vertical graph that records positive and negative amplitudes from a central axis, some of them vaguely reminiscent of human profiles. The sculpture’s vibrant dynamics invite the beholder to walk around it. It does not present a pre-defined main view. Movement, dynamics, and vibrant aspiration are the factors that let it communicate with its site despite its alien character. The privately financed sculpture is part of the still ongoing Kunstprojekt Bonn, initiated by the Bonn-based Foundation for Art and Culture to stimulate discussion about art in public space.

www.stiftungkunst.de/kultur/projekt/tony-cragg-mean-average