Animation of the Week: Artistic Interpretation of the Venus of Willendorf as an Anti-Fertility Goddess Made of Chocolate

by Bernard K. Means, Director, Virtual Curation Laboratory (VCL)

Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) has a strong arts program and I often have art majors who take my courses.  One of these VCU art majors, Beth Reid, became involved with work in the VCL and decided to combine her interests in archaeology, art, and virtual curation into a sculpture that could be 3D scanned.  In spring 2012, she created a chocolate sculpture resembling the famous Upper Paleolithic portable object known as the Venus of Willendorf–and interpreted by some as a fertility figurine.  Ms. Reid’s chocolate sculpture was combined with birth control pills, to create an anti-fertility figurine.  In honor of Valentine’s Day, here is the animated version of her sculpture.