http://www.hamburg.de/image_article.do?cId=6207503 photo
Goooooooaaaaaaallllllllll!!!!!!!!!!
Hamburg’s got the picture, the concept, the winner (so far) of my “Best World Cup Sculpture” award of 2006!
They’re sculptures, really- maxing out at about 300 of them when they’re finished (though as of June 6, there were only 160 in place- impressive enough). Called “Blue Goals”, they’re a cross between Chicago’s “Parade of Cows” and Christo’s Central Park “Gates”™, but cooler. They’re made of glowing blue florescent tubes shaped like goal posts and are meant to be connected by lasers to form a canopy over the city for the duration of the Cup.
The point, so they say, is to symbolize “global solidarity and openness to the future” and, by the bye, to remind everyone there’s a soccer tournament in town. Phillip’s (they of electronics and music fame), the guys who donated materials, are bound to rake in PR kudos for a long time to come.
Michael Batz, the artist in charge, developed the idea in Shanghai where he fell in love with all of the roof constructions there. And as the project in Hamburg, gateway to Germany, progressed, he ended up installing ten of the blue beauties in Shanghai itself. This guy’s a well-known theatre director as well as a “light artist”. Blue Goals is only part of his Hamburg plan, though. He transformed the warehouse district of the same city into a theatrical set called “Mozart.Amerika”. He calls his work “optical theater”. And he was actually part of the planning process that aimed at making Hamburg known for its creative use of lights in public places. Hold me back, I’m rising off my chair here…
I’d love to walk the Goal Way to see how each one affects the site it’s in. But the best way to view them according to blogs and other websites is from the sky- or as near to it as you can get. Obviously, these jewels not site specific except for the size (the largest one I’ve found is 270’ by 50’), and they’re fairly unimpressive during the day. But still-
One warning posted on Batz’s website: “Caution: The “Blue Goals” is not a request to shoot balls at it - neither on the day nor at the night.”
