Horisontdykaren (Horizon Diver)

Horizon Diver is a bronze sculpture standing in Slottsparken. It is an artistic interpretation of how a bird looks when it is flying quickly by or diving for its prey. Or perhaps not ‘how it looks’ but rather ‘how we see it’.

When a camera captures a rapid course of events, it freezes for a fraction of a second and we can then study the frozen moment and all its details at our leisure. But when we see something similar with our eyes in real time, we experience something completely different. When, for example, a peregrine falcon is getting ready to nab its prey, it strikes with incredible speed and power, and the only thing that spectators manage to see is a sudden projectile falling to the ground. Even when a loon or duck flies by, it eludes us, and the eye really doesn’t perceive any details but only registers a movement.

Artist Torsten Renqvist wants to call attention to how the human eye actually perceives the coming of a bird, or in his own words, a ‘horizon diver’. He wants to make a sculpture that comes closer to reality than what a photograph or a frozen moment can do.

Torsten Renqvist began his career as a painter and graphic artist, but over time became best known as a sculptor. He has many public works placed throughout Sweden, and is represented at a number of museums, including Moderna Museet and the National Museum of Fine Arts. He prefers to work in wood. Horizon Diver was first executed in wood and then cast in bronze so that it would be better suited for outdoor installation.