If you haven’t heard about Shoe flinging or “Shoefiti” before, you probably have noticed a pair of sneakers hanging on overhead cables, power-lines or simply tree branches in your city. That refers to american cultural phenomena now rapidly spreading around the globe.
Yet, there is no common explanation or symbolic behind it, just several separate theories explaining possible reasons for this activity, such as:
- hanging shoes may symbolize troubled neighborhoods, gang-related activities or places to buy drugs;
- shoes may be casted as memorial, to commensurate someone who died close to the site;
- it may be hanged due to celebration of certain passage such as graduation or a forthcoming marriage;
- or just as a simple prank.
Since I’m leaving Denmark next week, I though it might be a good idea to leave some sort of sign here. A pair of my old shoes, which I have really wanted to get rid of lately, now contributes this stream of modern art in Odense harbor. Admit, its a charming way of cultural expression…
Pair of shoes hanged on wires in Odense 2009
So if you are not too busy and not too far away this weekend (29-31th of May, 2009) please don’t hesitate to come by. At least what I remember from the last year’s festival, it was a really pleasant danish cultural experience. Otherwise, we will meet in even larger Lithuania’s Millennium celebration in Vilnius, this year 6th of July.
