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| From Art Club Caucasus works by various artists |
There is a new discussion going on in Georgia to remove the Stalin monument in his home town Gori from the main place of the town. A related article which advocates the clearance of the Soviet leader you can find on Georgia Today here: "Bidding goodbye to Stalin’s heavy hand on Georgian psyche"
While I noticed many voices off the younger Georgians supporting the removal at sites like Facebook of course many other and often older Gori inhabitants do not like that idea very much.
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| From Art Club Caucasus works by various artists |
Before we pull it, are there any questions we should ask us before ? Like some as these:
- Is there a better thing than Stalin to be put in the center of Gori, if yes, what ?
- Should it get removed and destroyed (shipped as scrap to Turkey or China) or just replaced to another location ?
- Who was the artist of that sculpture/ensemble ? Should the artist have a decision on this question ?
- Wouldn't somehow removing Stalin in Gori also remove the memory about the Millions of his Victims ?
- Was the Stalin phenomena ever really seriously researched and analyzed yet ? Where can I read about it ?
- Was the Stalin phenomena ever really seriously researched and analyzed yet ? Where can I read about it ?
- Would the removal in 100 years possibly regretted ?
- What should be placed there after the cleansing ?
- Should/could other Stalin monuments throughout Georgia remain or replaced ?
and the most important question to you ARTIST could be
what should be put on Stalin's place in the center of Gori ?
See the Poll in the Sidebar as well
Posts
Why not paint it in lovely rainbow colours - or allow it to be repainted by a competition winner once a year ... or have installations added to it
ReplyDeleteHi Steve, thanks a lot for a first artistic proposal !
ReplyDelete" allow it to be repainted by a competition winner once a year "
is really cool !!
Maybe a Sound Artist could put a voice into the Stalin, and he is asking people uncomfortable questions a couple of times a day ??
ReplyDeleteSTALINEBO..
ReplyDeleteGADASHENDIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT !!!!!!
Hans - thanks - if you do run a competition I'd love to be kept informed- would UK artists be allowed to join ??
ReplyDeleteIn a similar vein - here's a Lenin collage I did back in 1995 - possibilities for the "man of Steel" ?
ReplyDeleteDREAM LENIN
Hi Steve, if we run a competition I inform you... Yes, British Artists preferred ;-)
ReplyDeleteAnother idea is to put Stalin with a hydraulic elevator invisible down to basement and he comes up on street level only on certain occasions... Best regards,
No doubt,we should remove this devil from Gori!
ReplyDeleteI am totally for the use of stalin for artistic purposes. It's a fantastic material. Would mean so much rather than the way it is or when it is completely removed. But you'll have lots of Georgians opposing it. They don't dare to be free about anything related to this guy.
ReplyDeleteI'd say, remove stalin from it's original spot, maybe put it in the museum (well, guess the museum is not big enough for it... but smth ike that) and have a new statute there, preferable something reminding the georgian history (as in stalin, beria, independence and august war; esp. since gori had a lot to go through)
ReplyDeleteRepalce with Saint Merry's statue.
ReplyDeleteI am all for "ripping up and starting again" when it's backed with strong analytical intentions. Unfortunately Georgian present is less analytical and more Postmodern, Revivalist [Capitalist] theatrical (theater for the West that is). Therefore the most honest thing to do would be the following: how about we have the (eager) English artist from above do a sculpture of Ketie Melua in a form of St. Mary?
ReplyDeleteYeah, but do you think the Melua-sculpture would last ?
ReplyDeleteP.S.
ReplyDelete"Where thoughts are absent words are brought in as convenient replacements." Goethe's Faust
In contemporary Georgian case: Where thoughts are absent theatrical actions are brought in as convenient replacements.
Yes, Melua sculpture would "last" until we stopped being the copycats of Western neoliberal hegemony and started analyzing our resent collective past and moving into future with critical sobriety.
ReplyDeleteit should be removed, and I suggest it is gifted to Russians, as they seems to be trying to bring the cult back, I am sure they will find a place somewhere in Moscow for it. As for what should be put up instead - do we really need another large statue? How about a park with lots of small installations like in the west - one shape, many artists' impressions.
ReplyDeleteVladimer,
ReplyDelete"like in the West"??... how ironic , maybe Georgia should be renamed altogether to The Republic of Like the West
I've got one question: what will it change to remove the monument or leave it on it's place?
ReplyDeleteI think it wont change our history..
ReplyDeleteI think the rainbow colors and sound artist can be combined. Just picture gayly colored Stalin winking playfully at onlookers asking in Sean Connery's voice: Hey, I dig your style, one have a shot of vodka with a dead dictator?
ReplyDeleteGiorgi
The Republic of Like the West - I like this :))) enough of Stalin, now it's like the west here guys.
ReplyDeletePlease could we put a Mickey-Rourke-Monument on Stalin's place ?
ReplyDeleteilia chavchavadzes or ekvtime takaishvilis sculpture woud be better. :)))
ReplyDeleteParis Hilton, Lady Gaga ?
ReplyDeleteONLY STALIN!
ReplyDeleteI beg for permission, to use this photo "Monument + ?" on my photo-webside about Sakartwelo.
ReplyDeletePlease answer me to Erwin.Drexler@gmail.com