Car Sculpture as Something Less Than Art

In case you missed the great event, Audi proudly unveiled a giant 10-ton TT sculpture in its home city of Ingolstadt, Germany. Dr. Werner Widuckel, Member of the Board of Management for Human Resources at Audi AG, and Dr. Alfred Lehmann, mayor of Ingolstadt, are shown here, looking totally foolish beside the be-ribboned beast that has already been shown in such eager locales as Berlin, Munich, Beijing, and Hong Kong.

The article in AudiWorld provides predictably blah-blah quotes from these fellas about the sculpture’s significance as a landmark—and the “100 Years of Audi” celebration on July 16, which passed without much notice. In a strange oversight, the article didn’t even include a photo. We got the one above from CarSession.com.

Now, why do carmakers (and other companies) make gestures like this? One could also ask why the Pharaohs built their tombs and pyramids, or why Audi’s giant car should be called a sculpture at all. There’s a structure in Chicago (above left - Anish Kapoor’s Cloud Gate) that qualifies, I think, to use that word.

Audi’s “sculpture” is just a glorified ad—like that enormous bug (above right) on the highway in Providence, Rhode Island, advertising an exterminator’s services. Then of course there’s Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo, Texas, probably the ultimate car tomb, celebrated in story and song. Now that’s a car sculpture worthy of the name.

What do you think about car sculpture as art? What car would you like to see sculpted, and where would you put it?

—jgoods

Related posts:

• Last month will go down in the record books as the first month that Detroit's ...
• It’s Not Just About Length, It’s How You Use It!
• Infiniti’s G37 to join the competition with an AWD system
• Christine Mendoza: Pearl of The Orient
• Making the shift to NEVs, one county and city at a time

Related posts:

• Obama To Get New, Giant Truck-Based Cadillac Presidential Limo [Presidential Limo]
• 2010 Cadillac CTS Sportwagon
• The Most Evil Cadillac in the World
• 2010 Cadillac SRX
• Cadillac Records Movie Download Page