'Unicorn; a Place for Stars', Steel sculpture in Katedralna, Łódź, Poland.
Unicorn; a Place for Stars is a stainless-steel sculpture of a running unicorn, 4 metres long and 2.3 metres high, mounted on a 1.2-metre black pedestal. Its head faces right with a long, straight, spiralled horn; the body is shiny silver-grey with a mottled surface, and the tail and mane are made of tangled thin wire. The hindquarters and rear legs are missing, so the figure appears to dissolve into the air.
The sculpture resulted from a design competition in 2017 and was commissioned from Japanese artist Tomohiro Inaba. It was installed at its current location on June 7, 2019, becoming a milestone in the city's contemporary art development.
The tram station next to the sculpture was nicknamed "Stajnia Jednorożców" (Unicorn Stable) by residents, and the monument's title, "Unicorn; a Place for Stars," refers to that name. At the 2019 unveiling, T-shirts with a unicorn design by local artist Daniel "Goudy" Tworski were handed out. The sculpture marks the point where Piotrkowska Street changes from a pedestrian promenade into a tram artery.
The sculpture stands at the corner of Mickiewicza Avenue and Piotrkowska Street, next to the Centrum tram station and the SDH Central department store. At this point Piotrkowska changes from a pedestrian promenade into a street with tram traffic, so the sculpture is reached on foot from either section. The base is 1.2 metres high with a black top section.
The sculpture was chosen through the city's participatory budget: residents' initiative gathered 3,774 votes, and the whole project cost 400,000 PLN. A later vote on the Vox Populi platform kept it at the Mickiewicza Avenue corner instead of moving it under the Hi Piotrkowska complex.
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