Fwd: Hans Christian Andersen Resurrected in Denmark

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Jens Galschiøt <aidoh@aidoh.dk>
Date: Fri, Mar 30, 2012 at 6:43 AM
Subject: Hans Christian Andersen Resurrected in Denmark
To: palashbiswaskl@gmail.com

The Info Letter of 28 March 2012 is also available at   Info Letters - To unsubscribe, see above   Dear Infolist Below you find a press release about a happening in Denmark. Probably you do not have the opportunity to assist. Anyway, you should not miss information about this peculiar art event about resurrection. Best wishes Jens Galschiot, Danish sculptor **************** Hans Christian Andersen Resurrected in Denmark First he was drowned in Odense Harbor – Then the cold winter ice decapitated him, and now he will rise from the dead and drowned – and will be eaten by tons of children. The famous poet has had a rough life the last few years in his hometown Odense, and now he will be pulled through an art happening – a resurrection. The sculpture of the famous storyteller Hans Christian Andersen, made by Danish artist Jens Galschiot, had been displayed on Odense town hall square since 2005. In October 2011 the artist arranged a funeral ceremony, and with 2-3000 citizens he removed the 3 meter high and very heavy sculpture from the town hall square, and with some trouble the sculpture was drowned in Odense Harbor. The drowning of the 250,000 euro expensive sculpture was a symbolic protest against that the town council had drowned the artwork, of which the sculpture originally was a part, in bureaucratic slowness. But on the poet's birthday, 2nd April 2012, he will rise from the dead, and that will happen with a big big resurrection party. A crane will lift the big sculpture from the harbor, while the citizens will drink champagne and home-brewed beer. After that the famous sculpture of the poet will be lead through the streets of Odense to the town hall square, with stomp-bands, cheerleaders, Drags for resurrection, and other entertainers.   Fix the head There the creator of the sculpture, Jens Galschiot, will fix the head, which has been damaged during the winter, and the citizens will clean him up, after 6 months in Odense Harbor, which is not the cleanest place to be.   Troubles are not over But the poet's troubles are not over yet. On the town hall square he will meet a twin-sculpture made of wax and chocolate. This will probably be Denmark's largest Easter egg, filled with chocolate-covered marzipan bars and candy from Odense's marzipan factory. The Easter egg will during a ceremony be hoisted 5 meters in the air, and then dumped in the middle of the square, and all the kids will run to get some candy and marzipan bars and drink juice.   Biblical dimensions "It will be a ceremony of biblical dimensions", the artist says with a smile, "First the resurrection, then an almost palm branch sprinkled welcome back to the city, after that a ritual cleansing, whereupon he will be smashed to pieces and be eaten by the citizen. Even though the order of events has been changed, it cannot get any more symbolic and biblical than this, and then at Easter", the artist Jens Galschiot says.   Like an April fool "This could sound like an April fool, but eventhough it is close to 1. April, we are talking about a real event. I will upload videos and photos online, where you also can see the photos from when we drowned him last year. So if you cannot come and participate in the event in Odense, you can witness it on the internet and on TV", the artist concludes.   History The sculpture was originally contrived as a part of big fountain depicting all Hans Christian Andersen's fairytales, but the artist has had to suspend the project, because the municipality after six years still has not managed to find a central site for the Storyteller's Fountain, although more than one million Euro has been available for the creation of the fountain   The spectacle was led by Jens Galschiot who had invited to the spectacular art happening. On the occasion he was dressed as an undertaker. His sculpture had been exhibited for six years at the Town Hall sq. It was one of the citizens' most favoured sculptures and it was eagerly photographed.   The artist who is a resident of Odense says with a smile: "Generally I'm known as a sort of street-art artist as I'm placing my sculptures in the public space, but this event could rather be dubbed as water-art. Who knows, maybe a new art trend has been born….   Info, photos  and contact: Contact: Jens Galschiot, aidoh@aidoh.dk, Phone: +45 6618  4058, Mobile: +45 4044 7058 All Free photos of the events of The Storyteller's Fountain: http://www.aidoh.dk/Storyteller-Photos The resurrection: http://www.aidoh.dk/Resurrection The Storyteller's Fountain: http://www.aidoh.dk/Storyteller Hans Christian Andersen's funeral: http://www.aidoh.dk/Funeral   Who is Jens Galschiot? Jens Galschiot, born 1954, sculptor, Denmark. He stakes his art to defend the ethical values of our society, regardless of politi­cal, religious or economic interests. His sculptures sudden­ly appear in public areas and start the performance. Politicians, the press and the public are drawn in as the actors. Jens Galschiot is a very complex artist, who moves around in the main distributing frame as, installation art and Street Art with clear references to "social sculptures" (Joseph Beuys), Symbolism and Art Nouveau. Galschiot has often acted as an NGO on international confe­rences. His sculptural manifestations appear in the public scene. The Pillar of Shame (8 metres) was put up in Hong Kong, Mexico and Brazil as a remembrance of bloody massa­cres. See a list of 27 art manifestations on Wikipedia The happenings are prepared in the artist's several thousand square metres workshop and foundry. The projects are im­ple­mented in cooperation with many helpers from Denmark and abroad. They are financed through the sale of bronze sculptures to art collectors.         Follow Galschiøt on Twitter Subscription to the Info List: Write your name, city, and country to the Info List: aidoh@aidoh.dk See previous newsletters (most of them in Danish): Info Letters ********* Info www.aidoh.dk and Photos of all Jens Galschiot's sculptures: http://sculptures.aidoh.dk   ********************                                  Contact to the artist:   Jens Galschiot  Banevaenget 22  DK-5270 Odense N,  Denmark Tel.: +45 6618 4058, Fax +45 6618 4158 E-mail: aidoh@aidoh.dk Internet: www.aidoh.dk *************************************************** REMOVE: If you want to be removed from our mailing list, just answer this message writing 'No thanks' in the subject box. Anyway, it may be worth a consideration that this mail is not covering all our info messages. The themes are manifold: human rights, the world's imbalance, women's and children's rights, racism, war and peace, arts debate, etc. To kolkatapost palashbiswaskl@gmail.com Palash C Biswas