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Portrait of a sculptor |
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The Messenger, a 5 metre high bronze sculpture, was on 29 February 2000 inaugurated on the central square Kongens Nytorv in Copenhagen. The sculpture was a comment to the worldwide Jubilee 2000 campaign pleading for the cancellation of the poor countries’ hopeless debt. The sculpture represents a monumental symbol of a Messenger from the South. An archetypal woman with the Masai-like stature equipped with cloak and staff. She is placed on a cylinder with engravings similar to rock carvings. Two digital displays show the flow of money from North to South and vice versa. Contrary to the beliefs of most people, the South-to-North flow is dominant: for each dollar transferred from North to South 12 dollars flow the opposite way. These figures are based on the World Bank. On the pedestal the people passing by are invited to put their signature as a protest against the unbalanced flow of resources between the poor and the rich countries. |
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During the year the Messenger was campaigning for Jubilee-2000 in several Danish cities and at the rock festivals of Roskilde and Ringe. During the summit of the World Bank and the IMF in Prague in September 2000 the sculpture was exhibited to focus on the disastrous role of the two institutions, see next page. At the end of the year a record-breaking 22 million signatures had been collected in 155 countries calling for the cancellation of the debts of the world's poorest nations. |