Raised eyebrows in Reykjavik over new lake sculpture

A two metre high sculpture in Lake Tjörnin on Saturday has created quite a stir, mostly due to the fact that it resembles erect male genitalia. The artist, however, says that it's not a penis, but a small marine sausage.

Artist Steinunn Gunnlaugsdóttir says speaking to mbl.is that it's, "A sausage, sitting like the Danish mermaid on a small bread bun out in the pond, erect and happy, a small marine sausage without arms, a strange being that doesn't realise it's own power. It's also a bit creepy."

The sculpture is her contribution to 100 years of home rule in Iceland and is a part of the Cycle art festival in Reykjavik.

She admits that there is some kind of gender fluidity in the sausage. "It's both a mermaid, usually female, but also a penis, because it's difficult to make a sculpture of a sausage that doesn't resemble a penis in some way. But I don't think that's bad."

Gunnlaugsdóttir made a video installation in 2009 titled Democracy is a sausage.