A roundabout dog ( sv, rondellhund) is a form of

street installation Street installations are a form of street art and installation art. While conventional street art is done on walls and surfaces street installations use three-dimensional objects set in an urban environment. Like graffiti, it is generally non-per ...

that began in Sweden during the autumn of 2006 and continued for the rest of the year. There have been sporadic subsequent recurrences. The phenomenon consists of anonymous people placing homemade dog sculptures, typically made of wood (or sometimes plastic, metal or textile) in

roundabouts A roundabout is a type of circular intersection or junction in which road traffic is permitted to flow in one direction around a central island, and priority is typically given to traffic already in the junction.''The New Shorter Oxford En ...

. Occurrences were reported all over Sweden, and the phenomenon also spread to other countries, including Spain after it was mentioned on television. A Swedish tabloid paper placed one at Piccadilly Circus.

History

The roundabout dogs started appearing in

Linköping Linköping () is a city in southern Sweden, with around 105,000 inhabitants as of 2021. It is the seat of Linköping Municipality and the capital of Östergötland County. Linköping is also the episcopal see of the Diocese of Linköping (Chu ...

Östergötland Östergötland (; English exonym: East Gothland) is one of the traditional provinces of Sweden (''landskap'' in Swedish) in the south of Sweden. It borders Småland, Västergötland, Närke, Södermanland and the Baltic Sea. In older English ...

, Sweden after a sculptured dog that was part of the official roundabout installation ''Cirkulation II'' ( en, Circulation II) by sculptor Stina Opitz had been vandalised and later removed. The original dog had been made of concrete, and Opitz was planning to make a new version of it after the vandalism, when someone placed a homemade wooden dog on the roundabout. The dog was given a concrete dogbone by another anonymous artist. Soon after the media reported these developments, roundabout dogs started appearing in various places around the country. In some smaller towns where there were no roundabouts, dog sculptures were placed in ordinary intersections with

traffic island A traffic island is a solid or painted object in a road that channels traffic. It can also be a narrow strip of island between roads that intersect at an acute angle. If the island uses road markings only, without raised curbs or other physic ...

s. In July 2007, artist

Lars Vilks Lars Endel Roger Vilks (20 June 1946 – 3 October 2021) was a Swedish visual artist and activist who was known for the controversy surrounding his drawings of Muhammad. He also created the sculptures '' Nimis'' and ''Arx'', made of driftwood a ...

incited controversy by creating drawings for an art exhibition, which depicted

Muhammed Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the monot ...

as a roundabout dog. The publication of these images in Swedish newspapers led to Vilks being subjected to threats of violence and put under police protection until his death in October 2021. In 2009, similar dogs appeared on some of the roundabouts in

Hemel Hempstead Hemel Hempstead () is a town in the Dacorum district in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of London, which is part of the Greater London Urban Area. The population at the 2011 census was 97,500. Developed after the Second World War as a n ...

, Hertfordshire.

References

External links

News article from ''The Local''

Building Roundabout dog website

27 October 2006
''

Expressen ''Expressen'' (''The Express'') is one of two nationwide evening newspapers in Sweden, the other being '' Aftonbladet''. ''Expressen'' was founded in 1944; its symbol is a wasp and its slogans are "it stings" or "''Expressen'' to your rescue". ...

'' {{in lang, sv 2006 in Sweden 2006 sculptures Sculptures of dogs Outdoor sculptures in Sweden Graffiti and unauthorised signage Swedish art Östergötland Public art Outdoor sculptures in England Memes 2000s fads and trends