In this episode, we’ll be visiting the Runners sculpture by Leonardo Lustig in Tromso, Norway. Welcome to Art, Culture & Books with me, Anthony King.
As always, I take all the photos and videos myself on location, ensuring you get an up-close and personal view of the fascinating world of art and culture. Leonardo Lustig’s “Runners” sculpture was created by Leonardo Lustig who was born near Geneo, Italy in 1969 and is of German origin. The 800 kilogramme (10.6 tonne) stone runners are placed upon a pedestal stone which was transported from Larvik. It originally came to Tromso in June 2016 and was a gift funded by the Italian Gianfranco Traverso, who participated in the Midnight Sun Marathon for the twelve years. It’s a gift to the city and to the marathon. The bronze sculpture took 15 months to make and is reported to have cost well over 100,000 euros. I also read that each runner weighs 800 kilos but I’m not sure about that … you never quite know the full facts with some of these heavily promoted stories in Norway, which this was indeed. The donor, Gianfranco Traverso also later funded the lighting which really looks quite stunning and is quite necessary because Tromso is extremely dark for much of the year, of course.
By Anthony King (c)