For “Going Public” I made a booklet. This is introduction. Other texts – which are interviews with Dan Karlholm (the Professor and the Head of Art History, Södertörn University College), Galina Lindquist (an Associate Professor at the Department of Social Anthropology, The Stockholm University), Jacob Östberg (a postdoctoral researcher at the Stockholm University School of Business), and Gunilla Bandolin (artist and the Professor at Fine Art Department, Konstfack) will be published later on our new initiative – www.newbeautycouncil.com.
“We found the statue of Juliet and there is a tradition going that if you touch her right breast, it will bring luck in love. She stood there, head shyly bent and I felt like the terrible rapist, stepping up and grabbing a firm hold. It WAS an opportunity not to miss though, so I just had to, silly at it is”.
Lasse, 51 years old, solution designer at Scania, Sweden.
From www.euronimbus.blogspot.com
“In small yard you can see bronze statue of Juliet. Tradition say that if you want to have love in your life you should grab her right breast and her arm. So I did it”.
Jelena, born 1972, Belgrade.
From www.virtualtourist.com
“We also found a large bronze statue of Juliet which is supposed to offer good luck to those who touch its left breast. Because of the thousands upon thousands of people who come through here, that spot of the statue practically shines”.
Jonathan Hiltz, a TV producer and host of the upcoming program Vloggers, on Bite Television.
From www.macleans.ca/culture/lifestyle
This publication is the result of my inquiry into a simple question: why do people in our rational century create rituals tfor some public art objects? Why do they throw coins, rub certain parts of a sculpture or go around it several times? As you can see from above quoted tourist diaries – they do it because others do. But why then others do it? Who starts a tradition? Can a single person manipulate human behaviour and start a new tradition? Why do people need this kind of traditions to exist? What does it all mean?
Trying to find an answer on this question I realised that there is no one science, which can give an answer to it. It works more like that – one question, several approaches. So my investigation is not only mine: I am very grateful to those researchers from different fields of knowledge that agreed to share their views on this subject.
