Totem means kinship, belonging. The totem is perceived as a being, as a protective spirit, as the ancestor of a person, of a clan.
The project is based on the idea of symbolizing the kinship of people of different origins, from all directions, through their shared preferences and influences in totems.
The existing wooden TOTEMS (a work of art in public space by YOLY and 2 fellow artists) still appear to the viewer in a familiar original form of a totem, but they also deviate from this original form, both in their appearance and in their message. For example, they may or may not be freed from the bark, they are painted or provided with QR codes for listening to music, or they are equipped with objects.
The message of this art project, these existing TOTEMS, to symbolize the kinship of people of different origins, from all directions, through their shared preferences and influences, is more relevant than ever.
The continuation and expansion of this existing art object through a circle with 6 more iron totems around the existing wooden totems also brings another important aspect - that of further development, evolution, of becoming-passing-becoming."
The metal totems are lined up around the wooden totems like a new era; the symbolism of the individual wooden totems is transferred to the iron totems, but the content is applied to the iron totems by the artists in a new form, with metal parts.
In a broader sense, the iron totems also reflect the ubiquitous pillars all over the world; we encounter them as huge bridge pillars or as sky-high skyscrapers, they connect us worldwide in their gigantic dimensions. The iron totems are also larger than the wooden totems.
TOTEMS EVOLUTION
Blumengärten Hirschstetten, Vienna
andover of the TOTEMS EVOLUTION in the Blumengärten Hirschstetten (Hirschstetten flower gardens)
Despite a thunderstorm, the handover was successfully completed
Report from the handover on Donaustadt Magazin