The City of Brussels unveiled a new artwork inspired by the Disney comic series of Donald Duck on the newly redeveloped Place Sainte-Catherine this weekend.
A new work of art titled "Casse-toi alors, pauvre canard!" (translated "Get lost, you poor duck!") was inaugurated by the City of Brussels on Saturday afternoon. The anthropomorphic duck represents Scrooge, a character symbolising capitalist greed in Walt Disney's "Donald Duck" comic strip. The work was long kept in the city's depots but is now seeing the light of day.
"The placing of this work is the icing on the cake of the newly renovated Place Sainte-Catherine," said Anaïs Maes, City of Brussels Councillor for Urban Planning and Public Space. Due to its popular iconography, one might think that the artwork is only meant to be humorous, but it evokes important reflections by addressing a theme that concerns everyone: the negative consequences of capitalism and our consumer society."
Celebrating protest culture
Scrooge Duck is depicted sitting on a beam located on Place Sainte-Catherine and is covered in tar and feathers – a punishment practised in the Middle Ages and the Wild West as a sign of public humiliation and banishment.
By humorously hijacking the Scrooge character, Belgian artist Sven 't Jolle "sounds the death knell of unbridled capitalism" and calls for a more just society.
"In this sense, the image can be seen as an allegory in which capitalism is ready to be carried off,' he said. "However, the work does not only digest from criticism, it is above all an ode to the creativity and imagination of protest culture, through which it aims to express appreciation for those who try to change society for the better."
The artist hijacks other elements of popular and media culture in this surrealist work: the work's title is a variation on then-French President Nicolas Sarkozy's interpellation of a man who refused to shake his hand.
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Ans Persoons, Brussels State Secretary for Town Planning and Heritage, noted the installation of the contemporary sculpture also underlines the importance of giving art a place in public spaces. The unveiling of the work ties in with the programme of the contemporary art fair Art Brussels at the Brussels Expo this weekend. The work of art was acquired by the City of Brussels in 2011 as part of Art Brussels' 'Art in the City' project.
