ARE they snails or signatures, elaborate metal calligraphy, or pieces of construction material that have been left outside the Cultural Centre by lazy builders? Visitors to the Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront this week were divided about whether they liked or hated the coiled steel works, Indeterminate Lines, by sculptor Bernar Venet that are on loan to the Urban Council during the whole of the French May festival.
But certainly the huge pieces, which range from three to 13 tonnes in weight, were generating considerable discussion by many who saw them - fulfilling the wish of the artist - and almost everyone seemed to have a different idea of what they 'meant'.
One person thought they represented 'a jungle', another that they were 'like a tunnel that no one can get through', others that they were 'pencil shavings' or 'hoola hoops'.
Josephine Cheung Kit-ling, 30, a curriculum adviser for an international kindergarten, did not like the works at all, although she interpreted them easily enough as: 'Numerous circles after circles; a cycle of life with no beginning, no end.' Wong Yin-king, 63, one of the half-dozen Museum of Art security guards who has been ensuring that no one plays on the sculptures, said that after a few days he had begun to like the works: 'I don't know what they mean, but some people say they are the artist's signature.' He said that many people he had talked to since they were put up thought they were 'just some torn steel, but I explain to them patiently that they come from France, and have cost a lot of money indeed'.
Venet approved the idea of canvassing local reactions, because he said that part of the point of his work was to generate discussion, to think, and to encourage people to look at the lines not just once but several times.
'In general there are three reactions: one is the people who know my work, and who can compare it with my previous styles,' said Venet. 'They could say, 'ah, that is one of the best pieces that Bernar has done', or the opposite.