Invitation to the press and others who might be interested. Monday 12/12/05

Mad Cow Decease in Victoria Park

Monday the 12^th of December at 9 pm we will once more try to erect the two sculptures in Victoria Park.

We hope you can be there and that it will this time be possible to erect the sculptures.

Best regards Jens Galschiot (artist) (Hong Kong Phone: 9408 6455)

www.aidoh.dk/WTO

Press-release sent out globally Monday 12/12/05 at 5 pm Hong Kong time

Political obstruction of WTO-art in Hong Kong

European happening-artist on confrontational course with the Hong Kong government. The erection of a big sculptural manifestation in Hong Kong, meant to put focus on the imbalance of the world has been harassed by the authorities. During the last four days the organizers, the artist Jens Galschiot and the Trade Unions of Hong Kong have tried to break through the bureaucratic Berlin Wall but until now without any results. However, by parking the waiting container transport in the middle of the street of Hong Kong, NGO-activists manually succeeded in getting out 13 of the smallest sculptures and transport them to the Victoria Park so that they could join the big march Sunday where became an appreciated element in the peaceful demonstration.

The big NGO-meeting of the grassroots was almost canceled as well, when the authorities demanded a guarantee of 10,000,000 $HK (about 1,200,000 $US) to realize the arrangement.

But confronted with the canceling of the whole NGO-meeting one hour before start and thereby spreading thousands of frustrated NGOs from all over the world into the streets of Hong Kong, the police forced through a permission. However the Leisure and Cultural Surface Department in Hong Kong still demanded the sculptural exhibition insured for 10,000,000 $HK and the constructions to be certified by a Chinese company, even though they had already received four different certifications in English from a big Danish construction firm and even though the same sculptures previously had been erected in public spaces of Paris, London and Copenhagen.

The artist is now working to get the third set of documentations sent from Denmark and has for the second time ordered the container and crane to Victoria Park at 9 pm and hopes that this time he will succeed as the police has for causes of security asked that the sculptures being erected before the beginning of the official WTO-meeting Tuesday.

Concerning the problems with the authority’s Jens Galschiot has no doubt that we have to do with blatant political obstruction, and exclaims:

It is grotesque that we come to Hong Kong to support the position of China against technical protectionism and my sculptures are subjected to technical protectionism from the park management in Hong Kong. The sculptures have on various occasions been set up in the public space, e.g. in Paris, London and Copenhagen without any technical or security problems. We have sent technical specifications and certifications from renowned Danish steel construction enterprises. But the authorities of Hong Kong see a security problem even in a copper sculpture of the size of a 12 year old boy.

We have now got new certifications sent from Denmark and now we hope there will meet no more obstruction against setting up the sculptures. Otherwise we will choose an absurd solution to an absurd situation: we will lay down on the ground all three sculpture groups so that the height will not exceed 1 and a half metres. Some of the sculptures will be dragged through the streets of Hong Kong, still within the height limit claimed by the authorities. This procedure will undoubtedly expose the Hong Kong authorities to mockery in the world media.

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More information and free photos: www.aidoh.dk/WTO

Contact to Jens Galschiot and his staff in Hong Kong: (+852) 9408 6455, aidoh@aidoh.dk

The Danish group will endeavour to write a diary and make an activity calendar on the net at: www.aidoh.dk/WTO

The Sculptures, which have just arrived to Hong Kong in a containership:

Mad cow Disease – a nine metres high pair of scales with a stuffed cow in one arm and five starved African children in the other. A symbol pinpointing that the rich world is using five times the amount of their development aid to support their own agriculture. Each cow in the rich world gets 850 $ in subsidies during its life.

Survival of the Fattest is a three metres high copper sculpture of a fat woman with a pair of scales in her hand sitting on the back of starved African man. The fat woman, Justitia, epitomises the rich world’s self-complacent ‘righteousness’ – and the third world’s view on our conduct.

The Hunger March - twenty copper sculptures of starved children will appear as a mobile manifestation in the many demos expected during the summit.

Previous happenings by Galschiot in Hong Kong:

Galschiot and his sculptures have earlier been involved in turmoil in Hong Kong when he in 1997 set up the eight metres high Pillar of Shame to create a memorial of the crackdown of the student uprising on the Tiananmen square in Beijing in 1989. The Pillar provoked a debate about free speech and in spite of strong opposition from China (and the Hong Kong parliament) it was put up in Victoria Park where 55.000 Chinese participated in a memorial ceremony. Later the Pillar of Shame was placed on the campus of University of Hong Kong, which touched off intense student riots in Hong Kong. The British Governor declared: “There will not be fights about free speech as long as Hong Kong is British territory”. Three weeks later China took over Hong Kong.