Big, blue rooster lands in Minneapolis Sculpture Garden

MINNEAPOLIS (KMSP) - A big, blue rooster landed in Minneapolis on Thursday.

The rooster is the newest sculpture added to the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden. The 25-foot piece, called “Hahn/Cock,” is the vision of Katharina Fritsch.

“She likes that you’ll immediately come to something and recognize it. So you’ll recognize that it’s a rooster,” said Pavel Pyś, the curator of visual arts for the Walker Art Center. “But you’ve never seen anything like it before. You’ve never seen this monumental, bizarre blue rooster.”

Curators expect Hahn/Cock to compete with the Spoon Bridge and Cherry for photographs, but are not calling it a competition.

“When we started thinking about what could match the Spoon Bridge and Cherry, we thought Katharina was the artist who was up to the challenge,” Pyś said. “I don’t think it’s a competition, but I certainly do think it’s a dialogue.”

Hahn/Cock is intended to provide an alternative to militant-looking sculptures, like horses, almost always created by men.

“She’s interested in making a subtle comment on macho prowess and posturing, which is certainly present in the way this cock is standing on the pedestal,” said Pyś.

Hahn/Cock is the last of 16 new pieces added to the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden. The garden reopens on June 3. Expect activities that day—as well as lots of Instagramming.