''Mae West'' is a sculpture in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and ...

Bogenhausen Bogenhausen (Central Bavarian: ''Bognhausn'') is the 13th borough of Munich, Germany. It is the geographically largest borough of Munich and comprises the city's north-eastern quarter, reaching from the Isar on the eastern side of the Englischer ...

Rita McBride Rita McBride (born 1960) is an American artist and sculptor. She is based in Los Angeles and Düsseldorf. Alongside her artistic practice, McBride is a professor at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, and served as its director until 2017. McBride is ...

. Named after

the actress ''The Actress'' is a 1953 American comedy-drama film based on Ruth Gordon's autobiographical play ''Years Ago''. Gordon herself wrote the screenplay. The film was directed by George Cukor and stars Jean Simmons, Spencer Tracy, and Teresa Wright, ...

, the plastic artwork is a 52 meter high

hyperboloid of one sheet In geometry, a hyperboloid of revolution, sometimes called a circular hyperboloid, is the surface generated by rotating a hyperbola around one of its principal axes. A hyperboloid is the surface obtained from a hyperboloid of revolution by def ...

built from

carbon fiber reinforced polymer Carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (American English), carbon-fibre-reinforced polymers (Commonwealth English), carbon-fiber-reinforced plastics, carbon-fiber reinforced-thermoplastic (CFRP, CRP, CFRTP), also known as carbon fiber, carbon compo ...

. ''Mae West'' was planned in 2002 for the newly available Effnerplatz after construction of a tunnel. Following highly controversial discussions about size, shape and cost both within the city council and among the citizens, the sculpture was built between October 2010 and January 2011. Since December 2011, the Munich tram drives through it.

Location

''Mae West'' is located at the center of the (Effner square) in Munich-Bogenhausen, at the intersection of the Mittlerer Ring, the Bülowstraße and the Effnerstraße. The sculpture stands on top of the Effnertunnel, a tunnel constructed for the Mittlerer Ring. East of it, the

Arabellapark Arabellapark is a residential and commercial area in the Bogenhausen district of Munich, Germany, which was developed with the construction of multiple buildings from 1965 to 1998. It is one of the largest urban expansion projects of the period af ...

with its skyscrapers is located. Nearby multiple stops of the Munich Tram and Bus system are located. Trains of the Munich Tram are going through the sculpture.

History

Idea, planning and development

In 2002, due to the planning of the Effnertunnel, the newly available square was selected as the side of a new art project and eight artists were asked to develop ideas for this area. In the end,

's idea won against drafts by, among others,

Thomas Schütte Thomas Schütte (born 16 November 1954) is a German contemporary artist. He sculpts, creates architectural designs, and draws. He lives and works in Düsseldorf. Education From 1973 to 1981 Schütte studied art at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf al ...

and

Dennis Oppenheim Dennis Oppenheim (September 6, 1938 – January 21, 2011) was an American conceptual artist, performance artist, earth artist, sculptor and photographer. Dennis Oppenheim's early artistic practice is an epistemological questioning about the natu ...

. Due to the size of 52 m (171 ft) (previously 60 m) and the projected costs of € 1.5m, the sculpture was highly controversial. Munich mayor

Christian Ude Christian Ude (born 26 October 1947) is a German politician who served as mayor of Munich from 1993 to 2014. He is a member of the German Social Democratic Party. Career Ude was born in Munich. From 1967 to 1969 he worked for the daily newspa ...

was the most prominent critic, comparing the sculpture to an

egg cup An egg cup or eggcup, sometimes called an egg server, is an item of tableware used for serving and holding boiled eggs within their shell. Egg cups have an upwardly concave portion to hold the egg and a flat-bottomed base. Egg cups can be made fro ...

. After heated discussions, Munich's city council voted 40–35 to build the sculpture, with the co-ruling

Alliance 90/The Greens Alliance 90/The Greens (german: Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, ), often simply referred to as the Greens ( ), is a green political party in Germany. It was formed in 1993 as the merger of The Greens (formed in West Germany in 1980) and Alliance 90 (for ...

party joining the opposition parties to vote for the sculpture.

Construction

File:Mae West Effnerplatz Muenchen 2010.10-09-2.jpg, Construction of the lower part File:Mae West Effnerplatz Muenchen 2011.01-29-2.jpg, Raising of the top using a crane File:Mae West Muenchen Effnerplatz Aufbau.JPG, Addition of the top File:Mae West Effnerplatz Muenchen 2011.01-31-2.jpg, ''Mae West'' completed

References

2011 establishments in Germany 2011 sculptures Buildings and structures in Munich Cultural depictions of Mae West Hyperboloid structures Outdoor sculptures in Germany {{Germany-sculpture-stub