1/internal/media/dispatcher/148384/fullAldo Rossi’s Sleeping Elephant2018[Lena Henke]Lena HenkeFibreglass-reinforced acrylic resin with iron armoring as substructure, rubber granulate (synthetic rubber) in polyurethane coating Architecture, city planning, urbanity, and public space are recurring themes in Lena Henke’s sculptural practice, through which she critically—and often humorously—engages with the patriarchal structures that have traditionally shaped these fields. With Aldo Rossi’s Sleeping Elephant, the artist refers to influential Milanese architect, architectural theorist, and designer Aldo Rossi, a founding figure of postmodernism. In his book L’architettura della città (The Architecture of the City, 1966), Rossi examines the model of the historically evolved European city and argues for moving beyond modernist dogmas, adapting existing architecture for new functions, and conceiving urban planning as an ongoing process. The form of the sleeping elephant symbolizes the utopian dream of the sculpture to be implemented as built architecture.Sculpturehttps://sammlungtest.belvedere.at/objects/93844/rdf