WASHINGTON — Public art is meant to inspire us and to get us asking questions about ourselves and others.
Spurring conversation about reflections on society is the sentiment artists aspire to generate and the relatively new addition to D.C.'s Farragut Square Park allows us all to hold up a mirror and contemplate if we like the reflection or not.
The "Love/Hate" sculpture arrived in D.C. in November, it's the sculpture's first stop in America after being displayed throughout cities in Europe.
German artist Mia Florentine Weiss spoke with WUSA9 from Berlin about why D.C. was ideal as the first U.S. city to display her art.
"The place was in the media because you had 'Black Lives Matter.' It was a stone's throw from the White House. It's very symbolic," said Weiss. "In a place and in a time where there is so much tension and there's so much going on politically I think that's a very nice metaphor."
The sculpture is two pieces. Both read "love" on one side and "hate" on the other. The design is called an ambigram which is a calligraphic visual pun in which two different words appear on opposite sides of an image. It can also be a word or picture that appears the same from multiple vantage points.
Of course, we were interested in Weiss' message being offered through the sculpture.
"Art is never a school book so you have to find your own interpretation," she said.
Politicians in Germany and with the EU have embraced the message. They see it as synonymous with the challenges faced by post-war Europe. The love in modern day Europe was born from the hate and ashes of World War II, as they see it.
"For me at the end its definitely a call for action. It's something we see and have to respond to immediately and it shows us that art is relevant. We need art to breathe or else we couldn't go on," said Weiss.
"Every human being is torn between those two ambiguous feelings," said Weiss. "It's really important that we have this giant message of love hate in the street."
The sculpture won't be in D.C. for much longer. In March, it will be removed from Farragut Square and brought to Austin, Texas during the SxSW festival. Following that it will rotate among several German consulates throughout the country.
"In the end that's my advice, choose love because we only have one planet and one life and if we all spread love we'll be much better off," she said.