Bataille Monument 2002

Thomas Hirschhorn made this monument in honor of French intellectual George Bataille, but it's so much more than just stone and bronze, right? Imagine Hirschhorn out here, wrestling with these rough materials, trying to make something that honors thought but is also a place where people can hang out, climb, just *be*. I mean, look at that surface, all rugged and textured. I bet it feels really real, like touching something primal. It's not fancy or polished; it's raw. Maybe he was thinking about how Bataille liked to get down and dirty with ideas, no holding back, really digging into the messy stuff of life. And then you've got these kids clambering all over it, turning it into a playground. That's what art can do, isn't it? It takes these big, serious ideas and plunks them right into everyday life, where they get all mixed up with everything else. We see the world, and maybe even think, in a different way.