Dilemma: To jump or not to jump

New sculpture in Oslo’s Ekeberg Park is a monument to scary choices

Photo: Tor Stenersen / Aftenposten
Dilemma, the new sculpture by Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset, now looming over Oslofjord. In the photo above, you can see Ekeberg Park initiator Christian Rignes viewing the sculpture. One imagines his advice would be to take the plunge.

M. Michael Brady
Asker, Norway

Dilemma, a new sculpture, now joins 34 others in the Ekebergparken Sculpture Park above downtown Oslo to the southeast. It depicts a six-year-old boy hesitating at the lip of a diving board, wondering whether to jump or not to jump. It was unveiled on Thursday, June 1, by Norwegian Minister of Culture Linda Hofstad Helleland.

Photo: Tor Stenersen / Aftenposten

The sculpture park was initiated and is financed by Christian Ringnes, a Norwegian businessman with an MBA from Harvard and a business pedigree that goes back to 1876, when his family started the Ringnes Brewery, now Norway’s largest. He is an avid art collector with one of the world’s largest private collections of art. He donated the funds to start the park, which opened in 2013. The Wall Street Journal (July 16, 2015, edition) has ranked the park one of the world’s five best sculpture parks dedicated to modern and contemporary art.

Dilemma was fashioned by Dane Michael Elmgreen and Norwegian Ingar Dragset, who have worked as an artist duo since 1995 and now are based in Berlin. Park founder Ringnes reckons that its location high above the Oslofjord will lead to it becoming a new landmark of the city.

This article originally appeared in the June 16, 2017, issue of The Norwegian American. To subscribe, visit SUBSCRIBE or call us at (206) 784-4617.