Category: What & Where

What & Where

The African Renaissance Monument, Built by North Korea

While visiting the Things Fall Apart exhibition (part of the recent “Red Africa” season) at Calvert 22 in London, I was intrigued by Onejoon Che’s model of the African Renaissance Monument. This was one of a series of models and photographs of African monuments on display by the South Korean artist. Firstly, I was struck by how closely the design for the monument mirrored Soviet statuary and … Continue reading The African Renaissance Monument, Built by North Korea

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What & Where

What & Where: The Guard Who Jumped the Berlin Wall

What: Florian and Michael Brauer and Edward Anders, Mauerspringer (Walljumper), 2009 Where: Brunnenstraße, Berlin, Germany In June 2009, a few months prior to the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, a new sculpture appeared on the streets of the German capital. Mauerspringer (Walljumper) by Florian and Michael Brauer and Edward Anders depicts a life-sized East German border guard named Conrad Schumann, in … Continue reading What & Where: The Guard Who Jumped the Berlin Wall

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What & Where

What & Where: Sculpture of Bangladesh’s Martyred Intellectuals

What: Sculpture of the Martyred Intellectuals Where: Mujibnagar Memorial Complex, Meherpur, Bangladesh The Bangladesh Liberation War between East Pakistan and West Pakistan ended on 16 December 1971 with the establishment of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh in the east. Although only lasting 9 months, the war was shocking in its brutality. During a series of genocidal atrocities perpetuated by the Pakistan Army against the Bengali … Continue reading What & Where: Sculpture of Bangladesh’s Martyred Intellectuals

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What & Where

What & Where: The East German Surveillance Station in Los Angeles

What: Christoph Zwiener, ADN Pfoertnerhaus (ADN Guard House) Where: 9300 Culver Boulevard, Culver City, LA – until 2 November 2014 To mark the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall on 9 November 1989, Los Angeles is the temporary home of a GDR surveillance booth. German artist Christof Zwiener has reimagined the 1970s guardhouse as an art installation, with the 2 by 1 … Continue reading What & Where: The East German Surveillance Station in Los Angeles

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What & Where

What & Where: Atomium

What: The Atomium Where: Square de l’Atomium, B-1020 Brussels, Belgium In northern Brussels a structure named ‘Europe’s most bizarre building’ is a permanent reminder of the Cold War’s utopian vision of the future. The Atomium was constructed for Expo 58, the Brussels World’s Fair of 1958, and was originally intended only to survive the months of the Fair. But such was the popularity of this … Continue reading What & Where: Atomium

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What & Where

What & Where: Death of Rubén Salazar

What: Death of Rubén Salazar, oil painting by Frank Romero, 1986 Where: Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC The killing of Los Angeles Times journalist Rubén Salazar on 29 August 1970 highlighted the impact that Cold War politics had on all sections of American society. On the day of his death, Salazar was reporting on a march organised by the Chicano Moratorium, a group protesting … Continue reading What & Where: Death of Rubén Salazar

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What & Where

What & Where: Nixon Gets the Stalin Treatment

Several years before the Watergate scandal brought Richard Nixon’s presidency to an undignified end, a grateful Hungarian émigré artist memorialised the politician in an altogether more favourable light. Nixon at Andau was painted in 1970 by Ferenc Daday, who had emigrated to the United States along with many of his compatriots after the failed Hungarian Revolution of 1956. The painting recalls Nixon’s visit that year … Continue reading What & Where: Nixon Gets the Stalin Treatment

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What & Where

What & Where: The Wende Museum

What: The Wende Museum Where: 5741 Buckingham Parkway, Suite E, Culver City, CA 90230 (until late 2014) To experience the Cold War in all its questionable glory you don’t have to get cold: nowadays you can just head to sunny California. Since 2002 The Wende Museum has amassed over 75,000 objects from behind the Iron Curtain, including a substantial collection of Cold War-era paintings, drawings, sculptures, graphics, photographs and folk art. Recently the museum has … Continue reading What & Where: The Wende Museum

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What & Where

What & Where: Soviet Sculpture at the UN Headquarters

What: Evgenii Vuchetich, We Shall Beat Our Swords Into Plowshares, 1957 Where: North garden of the United Nations Headquarters, 760 United Nations Plaza, New York, USA When the groundbreaking Soviet Exhibition for Science, Technology and Culture closed in New York on 10 August 1959 not all of the Socialist Realist art display returned home. To this day, one piece remains in the grounds of the … Continue reading What & Where: Soviet Sculpture at the UN Headquarters

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What & Where

What & Where: San Francisco’s Peace Madonnas

What: Peace Madonna statues by Beniamino Bufano Where: Various locations in San Francisco (including Fort Mason and Brotherhood Way) and Timber Cove, Sonoma While families and friends gather to enjoy the scenic views from Fort Mason’s Great Meadow in San Francisco, a serene concrete Madonna and four-eyed mosaic child benevolently watch over the revellers. Without an inscription or a panel providing details, passers-by are unlikely … Continue reading What & Where: San Francisco’s Peace Madonnas

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