English Big Plate:

PILLAR OF SHAME

- A Sculptural Outcry

This sculpture is a part of an art manifestation that within a decade will spread over the Planet. Approximately once a year, a Pillar of Shame will be erected somewhere in the world as a memorial to a crime committed against humanity. The sculpture will be erected to serve as a continual reminder of a shameful act which must never reoccur. One might call the Pillar of Shame a Nobel Prize of Injustice.

The sculpture is created by the Danish sculptor

JENS GALSCHIOT

1996

in cooperation with the staff of his workshop and thousands of people around the globe who support the initiative and who help with the erecting of the Pillars of Shame, often in the face of considerable personal risk.

A Reminder in History

Our memories become ever shorter because our consciousness is overburdened by the media's continuous stream of information. The smell of decomposing corpses and death vanishes as soon as the pictures fade from the screen. It is the aim of the Pillar of Shame to perpetuate the memory of the atrocity and its victims - to serve as a reminder in history.

The symbolic value of the sculpture is enforced by the reactions of the authorities, whether they destroy it, brush it aside or allow it to stand. In all circumstances it will have a symbolic value enforced by the fact of being a part of a global network of similar sculptures.

The Initiator

of the project is Danish sculptor Jens Galschiot, born 1954. He is married with three children. He has exhibited in Denmark, Greenland, Germany, England, France, Italy and Spain. In recent years, he has had an increasing interest for art as a means of communication

The Theatre of Reality

His art manifestations function as gigantic theatrical events. His sculptures set the scene.

Suddenly they turn up in the street and the play starts. Politicians, the media and the public are brought in as actors. They adopt their role with ease, as the symbolism of the happenings is open for interpretation. But no matter what they do, they contribute to the dynamics of the happening by constantly creating new symbols.

The artist's message is aiming at the defence of the ethical foundations of our civilisation, independently of political, religious and economical interests.

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