Project Management | Public Installation: The Plait at Sculpture Terrace, Westersingel, Rotterdam

“Tools of Endearment: The Plait” (2020)

Sculpture Terrace in Westersingel, Rotterdam

08 March 2021

Kalliopi Lemos’ giant steel sculpture “The Plait”, homage to women’s strength, has been acquired by The Droom en Daad Foundation for the public sculpture collection of Rotterdam and is given as a gift to the people of the city.

To coincide with International Women’s Day, the City Councillor of Culture, Saïd Kasmi, unveiled on the 8th of March, Lemos’ work on the Sculpture Terrace at the Westersingel in Rotterdam. Kalliopi Lemos is best known for her large-scale public installations of everyday objects, sometimes of colossal size. “The Plait” raises questions about the role of femininity in modern society and rebels against patriarchal coercion.

“The Plait” is the first work by a female artist on the sculpture terrace. For this work, Lemos says she also pays homage to the recently deceased American Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg.

The artist shares: “Real change happens one thing at a time – enduring change happens one step at a time, said Ruth Bader Ginsburg the US Supreme Court Judge. I was saddened to hear that this guardian angel of women’s human rights passed away. The Plait could serve as a memorial for her qualities, her philosophy, and the principles that guided her life – a compass for humanity! The Plait, is a feminine sensual symbol made of hundreds of intertwined thin rods that rises ambitiously towards the sky as if just by standing upright is making its own statement of self-worth and defiance.”

A beautiful video portrait of the artwork can be found here

“The Plait” by Kalliopi Lemos is part of Sculpture International Rotterdam (SIR)