×
FREE ASSISTANCE FOR THE INQUISITIVE PEOPLE
Tutorial Topics
X
softetechnologies
The Mustangs of Las Colinas, by Robert Glen
The Caring Hand,by Eva Oertli and Beat Huber - Scintillating Sculptures
134    Dibyendu Banerjee    22/01/2025

Located within a sliver of parkland, between a railroad track and a street, in Glarus, Switzerland, a surprising sculpture rises from the ground and gently wraps its fingers around a tree, created by Eva Oertli and Beat Huber, who named it Hand. However, it is popularly known as The Caring Hand, since the underlying the message of this sculpture is a call to be responsible and caring about the environment. The symbolic sculpture, around five feet tall, was cast in concrete probably in the studio of the sculptors in Ennenda, in 2004, as a part of an exhibition of three-dimensional works in urban space.

softetechnologies

The temporary installation of the caring hand was a great success with the audience, who demanded that the city of Glarus should buy it. On public demand, the sculptors gifted the piece of art to the city, which was permanently installed in parkland in the city of Glarus. Later, in a joint statement, the creators stated that they did not want to set a monument to the gardening profession, but they intended to point out that as a great human race, all of us are responsible for our living space.

the caring hand

The town of Glarus is not a Zürich-like metropolis, it is rather a large Alpine village, with a 2018 population of only 12,425 and the sculpture is just like an ordinary natural feature of the landscape, along a street in Glarus, with a path parallel to it. The sculptured hand is not a flat hand, merely displaying the tree, it is neither engaged in the action to pick it up from above.

softetechnologies

It is rather cupping the tree within its fingers, with a sense of restrained power in those concrete fingers. The Hand seems to be a natural fence providing a potentially protective shield around its trunk. With the fingers that curve inward, it seems to guard and protect the tree carefully, affectionately and protectively, like the hand of a loving parent.

the caring hand

The symbolic structure of the Caring Hand is also strikingly incorporated into the setting, as it seems to grow out of the ground, rather than appearing to be something that has been imposed on the space around the tree from the outside. It appears to be rooted there, just like the same way that the tree is rooted in the ground. It seems to be a part of the natural environment, rather than an imposed idea that has no connection to the place it inhabits. In addition to that, the hand has become naturalized over the time, as it has become mossy, less shiny and almost greenish. Although it is made of concrete, an inorganic structure like the parking lot, it has achieved an organic relationship with its place.

softetechnologies

Nevertheless, the Caring Hand is a silent message to the mankind to take care of the nature, of which humans are also a part.

the caring hand
The Mustangs of Las Colinas, by Robert Glen
softetechnologies
Author Details
Dibyendu Banerjee
Ex student of Scottish Church College. Served a Nationalised Bank for nearly 35 years. Authored novels in Bengali. Translated into Bengali novels/short stories of Leo Tolstoy, Eric Maria Remarque, D.H.Lawrence, Harold Robbins, Guy de Maupassant, Somerset Maugham and others. Also compiled collections of short stories from Africa and Third World. Interested in literature, history, music, sports and international films.
Enter New Comment
Comment History
No Comment Found Yet.
Sri Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa
All religions are true. God can be reached by different religions. Many rivers flow by many ways but they fall into the sea. They all are one.
Sri Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa
2140
59.21
Today So Far
Total View (Lakh)
softetechnologies
26/05/2018     44271
01/01/2018     36692
25/06/2018     36198
28/06/2017     34734
02/08/2017     33281
01/08/2017     27699
06/07/2017     27445
15/05/2017     27055
14/07/2017     22749
11/09/2018     21387
softetechnologies