Iowa City, Victoria, San Francisco: Herkys, Dolphins, and Hearts on Parade

Action

Iowa City erected 75 different statues of “Herky”, the University of Iowa mascot, across town. Each statue was commissioned by a different artist and designed according to a specific theme, such as Marilyn MonHerky, Galactic Herky, Coca-Cola Herky. An article in the Iowa City newspaper claimed that the collection of Herkys “furthers our identity as a fun, youth-friendly place to work, study and live…. It's something that adds color to our community; it's a nice respite from the hustle and bustle of our lives and troubles of the world. To that degree, the Herkys underscore our metro area's reputation as a friendly, vibrant community.”

In Victoria, British Columbia, similarly decorated dolphin statues appeared throughout downtown.


As we pulled into San Francisco, we saw a parade of individually decorated heart statues.

Reflection
The Herkys, dolphins, and hearts are not alone. The Cows on Parade promenades in Zurich (1998) and Chicago (1999) were perhaps the most influential launching pads for the recent craze of city-wide public art mascots:


Since then, the cows have incorporated and opened shop in other globally competitive metropolises. Meanwhile, some cities have attempted their own locally-flavored statue themes – fish in Baltimore, Pegasus in Dallas, pigs in Cincinnati, lizards in Orlando, and horses in Lexington. When I was living in Toronto, there were “Moose in the City”:


I support public art, in the same sense that I support art in museums. That is, I support art that expresses and inspires creativity, intrigues our senses, or challenges us to think about the world in different ways. In Iowa City, many of the Herkys were genuinely interesting works of art, and some even opened questions about societal or community issues. If local artists are able to design the statues and deviate from pop culture norms, the art could encourage social learning and interaction in everyday urban spaces.

At the same time, I'm critical of art that distracts us from societal conditions and people’s needs, conceals differences between people, or creates the illusion of a uniform “imagined community”. Reflecting on Toronto’s moose statues, a community health worker commented that "the whole part about attracting tourists to the city is fine, but what goes along with attracting tourists to this city is eradicating visible poverty -- all of the efforts that go into clearing homeless people off the street and making sure tourists' delicate sensibilities aren't offended by visible poverty," A city councilor added that "indulging in this sort of self-aggrandizement when we have all these chronic social problems demeans the city."

Question
How have city-wide theme statues worked in other cities? How can these statues create more equitable and democratic cities?