“Get lost then, poor duck!” is the name of the new work of art inaugurated on Saturday afternoon by the City of Brussels. By humorously subverting the character of Scrooge, Belgian artist Sven ‘t Jolle “sounds the death of unbridled capitalism” and calls for a fairer society.
Located on Place Sainte-Catherine, this sculpture is intended to be both humorous and critical. She represents Scrooge, a character symbolizing capitalist greed in Walt Disney’s “Donald Duck” comic strip, and the archetype of the rich man par excellence in the popular imagination.
The anthropomorphic duck is depicted sitting on a beam covered in tar and feathers – a punishment practiced in the Middle Ages and the Wild West as a sign of Public humiliation and banishment.
“The ravages of capitalism”
The title of the work is a variation of the appeal of Nicolas Sarkozy, then French president, to the attention of a man who refused to shake his hand. Faithful to his approach, Sven ‘t Jolle thus diverts several elements of popular and media culture into a surrealist work.
The Brussels alderwoman for Town Planning and Public Spaces, Anaïs Maes, was delighted to give “new life to this work which had long remained in the City’s storage facilities”.
The sculpture was in fact acquired in 2011 by the City of Brussels as part of the “Art in the City” project. This project takes place in the contemporary art fair “Art Brussels”, which renews a partnership with the City.
”One might believe it to be a purely humorous work, but it actually calls for an important reflection that relates to a theme that affects us all, namely the ravages of capitalism and our consumerist society. But the work is also intended to be an ode to envisioning a fairer and more social society by sounding the death of capitalism,” declared Anaïs Maes.
