In 2000 Danish sculptor Bjørn Nørgaard created “The Genetically Modified Paradise”, a surreal series of oddly misshapen beings, including “The Genetically Modified Little Mermaid”, a new interpretation of Copenhagen’s famous statue “The Little Mermaid”. Each of Nørgaard’s characters were made from cast iron, stainless steel, aluminum-bronze, gold leaf, gilded lead, granite, bronze, and sandstone for the World Exposition 2000 in Hanover, Germany. The theme for that year was “Man, Nature, Technology” for which these sculptures certainly fit the bill.
This mermaid is also bronze and sits in a position similar to Eriksen’s, but her twisted figure, with elongated skeletal legs and an unrecognizable head, is a criticism of genetic alterations. Once the exposition ended, the sculptures were relocated in 2006 to Dahlerups Square in Copenhagen, where they live on the water, just a short walk from the original statue in Langelinie.
