peaceful perky piggy

When I first moved into the rural suburb north of Stockholm I am still living in - gosh, it was 1991, where have all those years gone... - the municipal building was still located rather close to where I lived. Some years back they moved it to the, perhaps more appropriately, suburbal centre instead. The grey, rather ugly 1970ies design building remained in place though, still housing some shops. Although ugly and old as it might have been, I'm not at all sure the new building is an improvement, at least not from the outside.

Last year they tore down that old building and now these three (four irl, one has been left out in the picture) multi storey buildings above have been built in its place. To say the least they are built too, too close together and not only can you practically shake your next house neighbour's hand from the balconies - and of course see straight into each others apartments -, they are also rather close up and personal with the smaller condominiums which are located just below and behind them. I have absolutely no idea what the builders and architects were thinking, if at all, when they came up with this not so brilliant idea for those, to say the least, pricey apartments...

But that's a side-track and not at all what I was setting out to write a few words on. Back on track, outside the old municipal building sat a rather grey and dull looking pig sculpture day in day out. Cute yes, but grey and unnoticed, and I'm sure Malte wasn't the only dog who felt an irresistible urge to pee on it.

Somewhere along the line of former municipal building being moved and the old one tore down the pig disappeared. It didn't reappear until this last summer, now situated in the square just outside the new municipal building. And in a brand new brassy, bronzey costume, or at least piggy coiffed into something quite different.

Alas the information about this communal perky piggy is scarce, but he's supposedly a self-portrait by famous Swedish artist Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd and his name is La Culture c'est moi. The artist is mostly known for his non-violence sculpture, the knotted gun, that can be found in different places all over the world but the one probably most recognized is the one outside the United Nation's building in New York.

That knotted gun might be a nice sculpture, loaded with symbolism (double pun intended), but somehow perky piggy with his adorable ear posture and kissable neck appeals more to my heartfelt peace of mind.