The sculpture’s unveiling has been a long time coming. It was originally supposed to be placed near the Palais de Tokyo, but officials worried it would obstruct views of the Eiffel Tower there, spending the next three years arguing about where to put it instead.

The idea first came about when Jane Hartley, former U.S. ambassador to France, suggested Koons create something to show Americans’ support and solidarity.

“I did, as a citizen in New York, experience 9/11 and the depression that hung over the city,” Koons told reporters. “It really took years for the city to be able to come to life again.”

80 percent of the proceeds from selling the sculpture’s copyright will go directly to the victims’ families, while the rest will be used to maintain the sculpture itself. The roughly $3.5 million in installation costs were paid for by a private foundation.

Reactions to the sculpture have been decidedly mixed. As the 23 French cultural figures who denounced the sculpture in the French daily paper Libération noted when “Bouquet of Tulips” was first announced, the imagery has no symbolic connection to the Paris attacks.

In The New Yorker, Lauren Collins wrote, “I don’t know about you, but if I were creating a monument to the victims of terrorist attacks, a pallid, disembodied hand wouldn’t be my first thought… the skin is white, of course. The blooms are pink, orange, red, white, yellow, green, and blue. Deli flowers, from us to the French people. The suspicion persists that the piece is a joke on the French, a sort of Trojan Hand meant to project American superiority rather than sympathy.”

Artnet wondered what the French people themselves thought of the sculpture and went out to interview onlookers at the Petit Palais.

“I find it truly vile,” Jean-Pierre Defaucigny, a collector and gallerist, said. “It is very, very, ugly. I can’t believe that France, which is overflowing with talented artists, would accept this. I am very sad. I won’t say what the flowers make me think of, but I find them indecent.” (If you’re wondering, other respondents were far more direct in their comparisons. You can read those here).

All in all, just over half of those polled approved of the installation, with many saying that whatever you may think of the aesthetics of the sculpture, it’s the sentiment that counts.

“Listen, I think it’s nice,” says student Arno Beringer. “It was a present, after all. Lots of people are being really annoying about it, but that’s just a classic French reaction, isn’t it? People love to criticize stuff.”

Jeff Koons has been a source of controversy in the art world since he first debuted in the 1980s. He’s best known for his kitschy balloon animal sculptures, one of which fetched $91.9 million at auction, setting a record for a living artist.

The post Jeff Koons Unveils “Bouquet of Tulips” Sculpture for Paris first appeared on Dornob.

Passing On with Panache

Dutch architectural design company HofmanDujardin decided to radically change the image of these so-called funeral homes, not only to put attendants more at ease but also to honor the deceased in a more elegant and upbeat atmosphere. They believe their funeral center, located in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, uplifts the human spirit, inspires the most sincere feelings of love, and honors the dearly departed in a truly special way.

The HofmanDujardin Philosophy

Since their start in 1999, HofmanDujardin has been dedicated to making people feel good in environments that promote contentment and self-fulfillment. Willem Wopereis, one of the assistant architects at the firm, says: “In general, all designs we make are human-centered. Our design philosophy — which we call ‘shaping intuition’ — is based on intuitive, natural feelings of human beings.”

Inspiration Through Loss

When firm founders Michiel Hofman and Barbara Dujardin lost a dear friend, they were inspired to develop a building that would properly honor the dead and encourage survivors to say goodbye and heal at the same time.

The pair concluded that a typical funeral is comprised of three main components, designing a unique room for each part of the process. In the first room, friends and family draw together to remember the dead and support one another. The remains of the deceased are then showcased in the second room, which itself is large, peaceful, and full of flowing angles and panoramic views of nature. The third room is reserved for toasts to the honoree and lively conversation about the person’s life, loves, and influences. The firm made a point of providing ample space for each event in order to imbue beauty, tranquility, and comfort into the ceremony.

Hofman explains, “The lack of places for worthy send-offs results in uneasy feelings during crucial moments in our lives. Naturally following our design philosophy, Shaping Intuition®, focusing on the intuitive values of human beings, we designed a funeral center which tries to break this discomfort. The design combines timeless qualities with elements of our modern ways of life.”

A “memory wall” is central to the ambiance of the first room. Filled with snapshots and videos, this huge multimedia screen celebrates the life of the departed. Memories beget memories, and soon everyone is atwitter with years of stories and recollections, with laughter serving to lighten the pall of loss.

Next stop is the room for the guest of honor. Whether it’s a coffin, urn, or some other token of remembrance, the memorial can be visited by groups of guests or singularly to share a few personal parting words.

By the time the guests reach the beverages and snacks in the third room, they’ve hopefully been reminded to enjoy life to its fullest, all of them newly aware of just how fleeting and precious it really is.

The post Dearly Departed Get the Best Possible Goodbye in HofmanDujardin’s Upscale Funeral Home first appeared on Dornob.