Ystad skulpturpark

Björn Selder’s stately sculpture has been moved around in Ystad a couple of times since it was acquired in 1992. Initially, it was placed outside Ystad Art Museum. However, the site did not do it justice, as the artist had intended it as a fountain sculpture and the muscular nature of the depiction would be accentuated when the granite was covered with running water. It was then placed in the shallow water pool outside Ystad Town Library, but it was not possible to add the water effect there either. It now stands in a square – Mölletorget – where, after many dry years, the water effect is now in action. The sculpture’s title, Monument to the Last Dodo, alludes to the large bird that lived isolated on Mauritius. It became extinct as early as the 1600s, because it could not fly and was thus easy prey for both people and other animals.

Björn Selder was born in Stockholm. He was a painter, graphic artist and sculptor whose first solo exhibition was in 1961. He was mainly active as a sculptor, focusing on fountain sculptures. In 1969, Björn Selder was one of the initiators of the Artists’ Collective Workshop in Stockholm and of the now defunct House of Sculpture in Vinterviken in Stockholm. He also worked as a professor at the Central Academy of Fine Art in Peking and carried out a commission from the Chinese state for relief art on The Great Wall of China.

Björn Selder’s public art can be seen in a number of places in Sweden.