$80,000 000 MLK sculpture

[marblecutter]

http://www.chinainsight.cn/may2007/may2007masterlei.htm

"The center piece of the project is the Stone of Hope. It is 10 meter33 feet tall, 8 26.4 meter feet wide at base and 3 9.9 meter feet wide at the top. Three sides of this sculpture (two sides and a back) will be engraved with selected MLK speeches."

[Merlion]

The undated link above mentioned that $80 m has been raised with a target of $100 m. This sum apparently is for the whole memorial site, not just for the sculpture.

I quote from the link.

The whole sculpture project is funded solely by the Martin Luther King Memorial Foundation. The foundation has set up an object to raise US$100 millions to fund its operation. By As of the end of March, about US$$80 millions have has been raised. As it is such as a highly publicized project, large American corporations are main donors. The US$20 millions gap will be filled in short time.

[evaldart]

Why not just go ahead and make it an even BILLION. There wont be any artists involved in this. Everyone BUT.

[StevenW]

Well, I hope when they engrave the speeches they won't use the same chap who typed that article. There's not much of a spell check in granite.

[marblecutter]

http://www.chinainsight.cn/may2007/may2007masterlei.htm

"On the other hand, evaluators may raise questions about Lei’s mother country China. People may question whether it is a good idea to let an artist from China, whose human rights record often invites criticizes criticism from Americans, to carve out an image of Martin Luther King, Jr., the assassinated American civil rights icon. As a matter of fact, this political uncertainty weighs equally heavy, if not more, than artistic consideration."


from Martin Luther King, Jr. "If we are to have peace on Earth, our loyalties must become ecumenical rather than sectional. Our loyalties must transcend race, our tribe, our class, and our nation; and this means we must develop a world perspective. "

[Duck]

does body language count? to me crossed arms don't work here.

[dilida]

The whole thing doesn't work for me. The artist put a frown on Dr. King's face to show his disapproval of the reality of the nature of the way things were (para-phrased). To me, Dr. King's face should reflect hope love and compassion as well as the strength of his convictions, not a frown! The artist did a lot of research as is proper, but I just can't help but believe, that someone who lived through the cival rights movement, and was aware of the man when he was alive couldn't have caught the spirit of the man better. I firmly belive it should have been an American artist. I absolutly understand the worldly brotherhood Martin wanted, but America is the place that allowed him the free speech to say so, and I don't feel America is reflected anywhere in this piece. There is no soul in this piece for me., the beauty of the man is not there.

[GlennT]

Dilida, you nailed it! Well said!

[Duck]

The whole thing doesn't work for me. The artist put a frown on Dr. King's face to show his disapproval of the reality of the nature of the way things were (para-phrased). To me, Dr. King's face should reflect hope love and compassion as well as the strength of his convictions, not a frown! The artist did a lot of research as is proper, but I just can't help but believe, that someone who lived through the cival rights movement, and was aware of the man when he was alive couldn't have caught the spirit of the man better. I firmly belive it should have been an American artist. I absolutly understand the worldly brotherhood Martin wanted, but America is the place that allowed him the free speech to say so, and I don't feel America is reflected anywhere in this piece. There is no soul in this piece for me., the beauty of the man is not there.


Thank you Dilida!! You put it in a nut shell; there is just nothing here that reflects his foundation.

[marblecutter]

King is Our (http://www.kingisours.com/)s

[StevenW]

I'm totally with the guy in everything he says except this:

"We all know, as U.S. citizens, how much our government owes the rest of the world"..

Honestly, I am sick and tired of this sentiment "we all"... (U.S. citizens).. Just what exactly do we owe? I saw Mr. Change visit Germany and apologize to 200,000 socialist teenagers all drinking beer and smoking pot, but no one ever asks why they have never apologized for Hitler, the holocaust or why the Russians have never apologized for Stalin do they?

Just what do we owe again and why are we apologizing? For spreading democracy to more countries in the last 70 years than have ever experienced that freedom in mankind's entire history? If we apologize to anyone it should be to ourselves for letting other countries dump all over us (and having half our population buy into that irrational guilt) and transferring the largest amount of free-aide and unprecedented wealth to these same ungrateful nations year after year as we get poorer and they get richer.

Bush gives 45 billion to Africa for Aides relief because his lagacy needs some help... Let's see here, that's ten thousand dollars for every Aides and Cancer patient in the U.S. I wonder if any of them could have used it?...

Damn the libs... Republican and Democrat alike...

I'd almost rather see a Marxist do it, at least they know wtf they believe in and King would certainly approve of that.

[marblecutter]

What Would Maya Lin Create if she had won this Competition?

[I.Chonov]

no one ever asks why they have never apologized for Hitler, the holocaust..

As a matter of fact they did( not that it matters).About 3-4 years ago.A German minister , in speech in the Knesset - pronounced in German:eek: - the picture was something to save .... the faces of the Jewish ministers , something to look at....

[StevenW]

I musta missed that one.. Well, it's off to Cuba now to shore up and fund a nearly dead form of communism and increase the drug traffic and child prostituition rings.. Go bummer.

[iron ant]

Being from ATL,I was shocked to here a foriegn artist was carving the memorial.As I said before, no bad wrap to him,just seems like aN African american stone carver would have been nice,or maybe a major stone carver bringing in some minorities to help give the piece some mojo.What better than to have a multi race working together for the common goal of creating an inspirational piece of art.Maybe we can bring Fredrick Heart back from the otherside,for one more masterpiece....IA

[WillPaq]

How apropos that the Chinese would get the gig. I'm sure it has nothing to do with them holding the lion's share of our bad debt, just like the Chinese have nothing to do NYC renaming the Freedom Tower, by calling it by it's street address.

Public art in general is almost always about politics. Art for art's sake only resides in the minds of the creators.

[rebelveal]

I'm sorry, but this Chairman Mao ala King image isn't working for me.

I can't figure out if the person depicted in this image would be behind the tank or in front of it. Such ambiguity does not reflect MLK whose spirit we all know would be joined in unison with that lone fellow challenging the tank in Tiananmen Square.

The committee was right to question the logic of giving the portrayal of the greatest American human rights icon of our age to a sculptor steeped in the imagery of an oppressor nation. Too bad they didn’t follow that thread of thought a little further.

[marblecutter]

August- September 2008 Finish and ready - prepare for opening ceremony.

[Tlouis]

More American dollars going to China for more unwanted and unneeded Chinese "stuff". I could have spelled that with 4 letters. Much going out, little or nothing of value coming in. :(

[marblecutter]

I love China ;)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCNzXzZiSfU&feature=channel_page

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5u-C9CA3fNg&feature=channel