Odense, 27.05.1997.
Pillar of Shame Arrived in Hong Kong
Monday evening the good ship Ming East arrived in the container
terminal of Hong Kong with the Pillar of Shame on board. This morning the sculpture was
moved to the warehouse of M+R Forwarding (HK) Ltd (office: 7th floor, Centre
Point). It will later be assembled for the display in Victoria Park 4th June.
The sculpture will be placed on a base that will be provided with text plates in bronze -
on one side in Chinese, on another side in English. I will bring the plates in English
with me in the aeroplane, see the texts below. The Chinese text plates will be made by the
Hong Kong Alliance.
Friday morning I will arrive in the Kai Tak Airport where a press conference will be arranged (contact the Hong Kong Alliance, see below).
Schedule of the Flight:
Flight No
29 May 07.45 Dep. Billund DM 201
08.20 Arr. London - Gatwick
14.55 Dep. London - Heathrow BA 025
30 May 10.30 Arr. Hong Kong - Kai Tak
Jens Galschiøt
More information is available by:
Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic
Democratic Movements of China
9/F Good Hope Building - 618 Nathan Road
Kowloon - Hong Kong
Contact person: Mr Albert Ho
Tel. (852) 2522 7721/ 2782 6111
Fax (852) 2868 2797
Photos and information are available on
Galschiot's homepage: http://www.aidoh.dk
The big text plate (the first one below) measures 90 x 42 cm, the small
plate 30 x 42 cm.
PILLAR OF SHAME
- A Memorial for Tiananmen This original sculpture has been mounted to perpetuate the memory of the massacre that took place in Beijing on 4th June 1989. The Tiananmen movement that was so violentlysuppressed was fighting for the basic human right of freedom of expression, and for the right to participate in the decision-making processes affecting the future of its own country.
We honour the memory of those whose peaceful protests were crushed by soldiers and tanks. May they never be forgotten.
Jens Galschiot
PILLAR OF SHAME
- An Art Happening of Remembrance
This original sculpture is a sculptural outcry that will spread over the Planet over the next ten years. Once or twice a year, a Pillar of Shame will be mounted around the world as a memorial of a crime committed against humanity. The sculpture will be mounted to serve as a continual reminder of a shameful act which must never reoccur. The Pillar of Shame is a kind of Nobel Prize of Injustice.
The sculpture is created by the Danish sculptorJENS GALSCHIOT
1996
in cooperation with: Kurt Hansen, John Bonnesen Wolff, Vivi Smith, Vagn Frausing, Jane Banke, Brian Madsen, Anders Sergent, Gry Bagøien, Linda Westfalen, Oleg (Russia), Edvard (Russia), Vika (Russia), Lotte Olsen, Mark Laplume (USA), Linda Christensen, Troels Gelting, Martin Hansen, Jan Christiansen, Preben Christensen, Maria Iners Tipsmark, Maj Frost, Jim Walsh, Dorthe Gregersen, Paulina Kjeldsen, Hariette Jensen,Trine Sandager, Nicki Concaas, Mette Pedersen, Trine Ebbesen, Jens Frederiksen, Brian Hansen, Lars Dahl, Henrik Rasmussen, Krakagården, Mogens Hvam Andersen, Jens Petersen, Lene Jellingand thousands of people around the Globe who support the happening and are helping with the mounting of the sculptures, often in spite of considerable personal risk.
Immortal Symbolism
This Pillar of Shame was displayed in Victoria Park in Hong Kong on the occasion of the Candlelight Vigil on 4th June 1997 in cooperation with the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China. The tradition of the Candlelight Vigils was initiated 1989, when about 1,000,000 people gathered in Victoria Park to protest against the ruthless crackdown of the Tiananmen movement by the authorities.
The display in Victoria Park marked the international debut of the happening. After the Vigil the sculpture was mounted on this site as a gift to the Chinese people in support of the struggle for human rights and in commemoration of the victims of the Beijing massacre on 4th June 1989. Set up a few weeks before the reunification with China, marking the end of the colonial era, the Pillar of Shame is a test of the validity of the old and new authorities guarantees for human rights and freedom of expression in Hong Kong. Some day, when the circumstances make it possible, the sculpture might be moved to Beijing.
No authority will ever succeed in preventing the mounting of the Pillar of Shame in Hong Kong. No ban on the sculpture can diminish its symbolic value. No attack, not even the destruction of the sculpture can obliterate the symbolism of the Pillar of Shame. No more than ruthless oppression has managed to stifle the spirit of Tiananmen. The symbolism of the first Pillar of Shame will be reinforced by the following sculptures placed around the world.
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.
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