AutoEater: Venske & Spänle
In late-2016, Midtown Alliance issued a request for proposals from local, national and international artists for a new piece of temporary art at the corner of 10th and Peachtree Street to succeed the Rockspinner, a 22,000 lb. granite boulder mounted on a rotating base. Members of Midtown Alliance’s public art committee helped review the proposals and selected the Autoeater, created by German artists Venske & Spänle.
Autoeater was the 2017-2020 addition to Midtown Alliance’s growing public art program that features temporary art installations throughout the district. Carved from timeless Carrara marble, the thin skin of translucent stone reveals the contour of a Fiat Panda—a popular automobile mass-produced in the 1980’s—as it is being swallowed. The sculpture invites comment on Atlanta’s relationship with the automobile in the context of one of the city’s most walkable urban districts.
