The sculpture named after Saddam Hussein's first wife (Sajida Talfah), that was unveiled in Napoleon Garden, Holland Park, west London in February has been burned down.
Kensington and Chelsea Council paid £2,000 for the installation.
Showing posts with label art. Show all posts
Showing posts with label art. Show all posts
Monday, April 07, 2008
Monday, February 11, 2008
Rubbish
Graham Hudson, a contemporary British sculpture, is feeling somewhat humiliated after a piece of his work that is meant to depict Saddam Hussein's wife (Sajida Talfah) has been mistaken for rubbish.
Hudson managed to convince the local council to pay £2K for a collage of oil drum, cable wheels, cardboard boxes, paint and adhesive tape and to erect it in Holland Park.
Passers by are of the opinion that it is a pile of rubbish.
Money and time well spent!
Hudson managed to convince the local council to pay £2K for a collage of oil drum, cable wheels, cardboard boxes, paint and adhesive tape and to erect it in Holland Park.
Passers by are of the opinion that it is a pile of rubbish.
Money and time well spent!
Monday, May 08, 2006
The World's Largest Embassy
Whatever happens in Iraq in the coming months and years, there will be one large scale monument to the invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein; namely, the world's largest embassy.
The US is currently constructing a monolith, that dwarfs in size all the other embassies in the world.
Congress has been told that the bill for the embassy has now reached a staggering $592M.
The heavily guarded 42 hectare will have a 15ft thick perimeter wall once it is finished.
It will house around 8000 US staff, and will contain every comfort. There will be residences for the Ambassador and his deputy, six apartments for senior officials, and two huge office blocks for 8,000 staff to work in.
It is also rumoured that it will contain the largest swimming pool in Iraq, a state-of-the-art gymnasium, a cinema, restaurants offering delicacies from US food chains, tennis courts and an American Club for evening functions.
Some cynics suggest that it out "blings" even Saddam Hussein's palaces, in terms of opulence and grandeur.
There are a number of questions that do need to be addressed, in relation to this monument:
1 Why does it need to be so big?
2 Why is it that this will be completed on target, yet other construction projects in Iraq are way off target?
3 Why is it that the electricity, water and other essential utilities for the construction site are on stream, and have not suffered the same cuts and disruptions that ordinary Iraqis suffer everyday with their essential utilities?
4 Why are the construction workers being employed to build this edifice not local Iraqis, but mainly Kuwaitis?
5 Does Washington really feel that this will win the hearts and minds of the Iraqis? Does Washington even care?
The US is currently constructing a monolith, that dwarfs in size all the other embassies in the world.
Congress has been told that the bill for the embassy has now reached a staggering $592M.
The heavily guarded 42 hectare will have a 15ft thick perimeter wall once it is finished.
It will house around 8000 US staff, and will contain every comfort. There will be residences for the Ambassador and his deputy, six apartments for senior officials, and two huge office blocks for 8,000 staff to work in.
It is also rumoured that it will contain the largest swimming pool in Iraq, a state-of-the-art gymnasium, a cinema, restaurants offering delicacies from US food chains, tennis courts and an American Club for evening functions.
Some cynics suggest that it out "blings" even Saddam Hussein's palaces, in terms of opulence and grandeur.
There are a number of questions that do need to be addressed, in relation to this monument:
1 Why does it need to be so big?
2 Why is it that this will be completed on target, yet other construction projects in Iraq are way off target?
3 Why is it that the electricity, water and other essential utilities for the construction site are on stream, and have not suffered the same cuts and disruptions that ordinary Iraqis suffer everyday with their essential utilities?
4 Why are the construction workers being employed to build this edifice not local Iraqis, but mainly Kuwaitis?
5 Does Washington really feel that this will win the hearts and minds of the Iraqis? Does Washington even care?
Friday, February 10, 2006
Saddam Banned in Belgium
The Belgians are having something of a debate about artistic freedom of speech.
David Cerny is one of the country's most original and provocative visual artists.
His work includes giant black babies that crawl up Prague's Zizkov TV tower, and the Pink Tank a memorial to the liberation of Czechoslovakia in 1945.
However his latest work, "Shark", is causing hackles to rise.
"Shark" is a sculpture of a life-size Saddam Hussein in underpants with his hands tied behind his back, floating in a large glass tank filled with the embalming fluid formaldehyde.
The sculpture was supposed to be exhibited as part of this April's Beaufort 2006 Modern Arts Festival, in the Belgian town of Middelkerke.
However, Michel Landuyt the mayor of Middelkerke has banned it. He claims that it's far too provocative.
Isn't that the point of "cutting edge" art?
He is basing his decision on the furore over the Danish cartoons.
Landuyt told Radio Prague there are several reasons why the sculpture is inappropriate:
"Families with children pass by the square that it was to stand on and some of them may not have taken it too well.
The other thing that bothers me is that the exhibit portrays an almost deformed human being, a real person, who is still alive.
He is in trial but should be presumed innocent until proven guilty. And lastly, I don't want to provoke people... or a certain group of people."
Good art is provocative and thought provoking, the bland chocolate box art beloved of dictators and the repressed does nothing for society.
David Cerny decided to make the sculpture of Saddam Hussein, after he witnessed the aftermath of the Iraqi dictator's reign during a week-long stay in Baghdad.
He is quoted as saying:
"I don't think that a wave of censorship has hit us but what is worrying is that it is now affecting the everyday lives of the ordinary citizens of this continent."
The sculpture will most likely be exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art, in the nearby city of Oostende.
David Cerny is one of the country's most original and provocative visual artists.
His work includes giant black babies that crawl up Prague's Zizkov TV tower, and the Pink Tank a memorial to the liberation of Czechoslovakia in 1945.
However his latest work, "Shark", is causing hackles to rise.
"Shark" is a sculpture of a life-size Saddam Hussein in underpants with his hands tied behind his back, floating in a large glass tank filled with the embalming fluid formaldehyde.
The sculpture was supposed to be exhibited as part of this April's Beaufort 2006 Modern Arts Festival, in the Belgian town of Middelkerke.
However, Michel Landuyt the mayor of Middelkerke has banned it. He claims that it's far too provocative.
Isn't that the point of "cutting edge" art?
He is basing his decision on the furore over the Danish cartoons.
Landuyt told Radio Prague there are several reasons why the sculpture is inappropriate:
"Families with children pass by the square that it was to stand on and some of them may not have taken it too well.
The other thing that bothers me is that the exhibit portrays an almost deformed human being, a real person, who is still alive.
He is in trial but should be presumed innocent until proven guilty. And lastly, I don't want to provoke people... or a certain group of people."
Good art is provocative and thought provoking, the bland chocolate box art beloved of dictators and the repressed does nothing for society.
David Cerny decided to make the sculpture of Saddam Hussein, after he witnessed the aftermath of the Iraqi dictator's reign during a week-long stay in Baghdad.
He is quoted as saying:
"I don't think that a wave of censorship has hit us but what is worrying is that it is now affecting the everyday lives of the ordinary citizens of this continent."
The sculpture will most likely be exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art, in the nearby city of Oostende.
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