I really dig this Pillar of Shame statue by Danish artist, Jens Galschiøt. He did this in 2008, dedicating it to the victims of the 1989 Beijing Tiananmen Square massacre. It is very unsettling….and rightly so. The detail is amazing.

It stood on the University of Hong Kong’s campus for more than 20 years. Only now, they are removing it as an attempt to erase the “collective historical memory.”

Though, it’s surprising to me that it’s stood that long. It is illegal to even mention the massacre in China. Survivors have been arrested or killed.

They’ve banned books and targeted outspoken dissidents, “but never removed a monument,” Jens said, calling it an “attack on art.”

“It will take a long time to move the sculpture,” he said in a statement on Saturday. “It is an extremely valuable piece of art, which after 24 years probably is a bit frail. Therefore there is a great possibility that the work of art will suffer irreparable damage if handled by any others than experts in handling art.” He warned the university that it “risks incurring a claim of compensation” if the artwork is damaged.

#art, #artist, #activistart, #tianmensquare, #jensgalschiot, #UniversityofHongKong, #sculpture