Its an essay about the NANA´s from Artist Niki de St. Phalle, which are placed in Hannover, Germany.

The Hanover Nana art figures (created by Niki de Saint Phalle) have attracted more controversy than they deserve. Discuss.

Nana - the main offender??

Face lifting

Every city has its image. If you ask people from all over the country, some might say that Hanover has no particular one, but of course everyone knows that the city is somewhat "grey". Since the the early sixties and seventies the city had to suffer under the prejudice of beeing an unattractive stain in the landscape. Nothing happened in and around Hanover and boredom has been a favourite attribute to describe the city beside the Leine. Knowing this, the city department tried to work against this image with a street-art programm. In 1974 they bought three "Nanas"(huge, colorfull and big breasted statues) from french artist Nicki de St. Phalle and started other projects to polish the city´s face in the public. Everything looked good from that moment, apart from the reaction on the "Nanas".

Nana

English: Nanas, 1974. Sculpture by Niki de Saint P...

English: Hannover, Germany, Niki de Saint Phalle: ...

A big hassle began, but was it worth the trouble? This essay is a try to search for reasons and answers, why the "Nanas" caused so much controversy and if they deserved it after all.

Martin Bennat 2

Disliked Exposition

To understand the reaction of the poeple at these times, we must have a further look at the set and the scenery of these times. Indeed, Hannover was "grey" and was quite unattractive for tourists. In this case, the intention behind the placement of the Nanas was absolutely right. The cost: 150.000 "Deutsche Mark" - a lot of money at this time. The question about the funding released the controversy, because the alternate option for spending the money would have been a new ambulance, strongly recommended by a local hospital. After the "Nanas" had been installed, people started...