The LTH Fountain and the anti-normal condition

The LTH Fountain and the anti-normal condition. Written by Cathryn Klasto and published before the symposium Fountains Failures Futures: The afterlives of public art, 28 & 29 September 2023 in Lund, Sweden.

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Abstract: Remembering my first impression of the LTH Fountain as a kind of lonely cybernetic monster, I consider the ways in which it functions as monstrous structure-space through its capacity to produce the condition of the anti-normal. To guide me, I have turned to a book which I not only love, but one which was critical in supporting the theoretical formulation of the hybrid monstrosity: Joshua Comaroff and Ong Ker-Shing’s Horror in Architecture. They investigate how particular cultural typologies of horror can be located within architecture, two of which provide critical support for my anti-normal reading of the Fountain – ‘Partially and Mostly Dead’ and ‘The Incontinent Object'. Through my brief analysis of the Fountain through these two framings, I conclude by reflecting on what this anti-normal condition and consequent monstrous identity may offer us when considering the possible futures of the LTH Fountain.

English

Svenska (Översättning: Andjeas Ejiksson)