The Port of Hamburg  

On a trip to look at old wood used to construct the port of Hamburg, we obtained permission to use three different types of material used in the Harbour. The Hamburg Port was 825 years old in 2014. 

The Port of Hamburg (Hamburger Hafen) is a port in Hamburg, Germany, on the river Elbe. The harbour is located 110 kilometres from the mouth of the Elbe into the North Sea. It is called Germany’s “Gateway to the World” and is the largest port in Germany. The port is the third-busiest port in Europe and 15th-largest worldwide.

Theatre of the Cold War

In 2014 was 25 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall. This project provides a great story for the former east and west. Now parts of the Wall can be recycled for sculptures and functional objects. We will have several original pieces of L- and T – concrete elements of the Berlin border wall for the operation. 

The Cold War was a state of political and military tension after World War II between powers in the Western Bloc and powers in the Eastern Bloc. The Berlin Wall (German: Berliner Mauer) was a barrier that divided Berlin from 1961 to 1989. Constructed by the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany), starting on 13 August 1961, the wall completely cut off (by land) West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin until it was opened in November 1989. The Wall was officially referred to as the “Anti-Fascist Protective Wall” (German: Antifaschistischer Schutzwall) by GDR authorities, implying that the NATO countries and West Germany in particular were “fascists” by GDR propaganda. The West Berlin city government sometimes referred to it as the “Wall of Shame”—a term coined by mayor Willy Brandt—while condemning the Wall’s restriction on freedom of movement. Along with the separate and much longer Inner German border (IGB), which demarcated the border between East and West Germany, it came to symbolize the “Iron Curtain” that separated Western Europe and the Eastern Bloc during the Cold War. 

Roof Tile Pieces of Genbaku Dome in Hiroshima 

The Equator Memorial Project in cooperation with the Embassy of Japan in Iceland and Mr. Tatsukuni UCHIDA former Counsellor received permission to use mementos from Hiroshima, the first city in history to be targeted by a nuclear weapon on August 6, 1945. The donation are stones from the roof of the Genbaku Dome in Hiroshima. The atom bomb exploded in the front of the dome above the ground and the stones were found over 30 years later in the river Motoyasu. Oleander flower is now a symbol for the city of Hiroshima because it was the first to blossom after the explosion in 1945. The group will create series of artworks with Japanese artists by recycling the historical ruins as well as creating the Oleander flower and present a new sign of peace for the world. 

Lone Wolf Terrorist Attacks

The Equator Memorial Project in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture in Norway and

Norwegian Directorate of Public Construction and Property received permission to utilize two broken windows from office of Prime Minister, Mr. Jens Stoltenberg in the Norwegian government’s headquarters in Central Oslo after it was damaged from terrorist attack by Anders Behring Breivik.

The 2011 Norway attacks were two sequential Lone Wolf terrorist attacks against the Norwegian government, the civilian population, and a Workers’ Youth League (AUF) summer camp in the Oslo region on 22 July 2011, claiming a total of 77 lives.The first was a car bomb explosion in Oslo within Regjeringskvartalet, the executive government quarter of Norway. The bomb was made from a mixture of fertiliser and fuel oil and placed in the back of a car. The car was placed in front of the office block housing the office of Prime Minister, Jens Stoltenberg and other government buildings. The explosion killed eight people and injured at least 209 people, twelve of them seriously. It was decided to donate the project material for recycling it to art pieces and functional objects to indicate the uselessness and cruelty of terrorism. The group will create series of artworks with Norwegian artists by recycling the ruins.

 THE CZECH VILLAGE of LICIDE – And Those Innocent Were Guilty

Morning speech; an order from one of HISTORIES mass murderers; 1 Execute all adult men. 2 Transport all women to a concentration camp. 3 Gather the children suitable for Germanisation, then place them in SS families in the Reich and bring the rest of the children up in other ways. 4 Burn down the village and level it entirely.

We contacted the Ministry of culture in Czech Republic and wish for its cooperation to obtain permission to use materials /ruins from the Czech village of Lidice. ”The Lidice Massacre in II World War” Very early in the morning of June 10, 1942, cameras shot silent footage of the events at Lidice. The Horák farm served as the execution ground for 173 males above the age of sixteen; all were shot to death. The women were sent to the Ravensbruck concentration camp. The children – the youngest a year and six days old – were sent to Lodz, Poland. Then, an order came that they were to be sent to the Sheldon death camp. The children were told to undress for a “shower” before the journey. In their underwear, holding soap and towels, they were loaded onto a truck that had been modified so that the exhaust fumes were sent into the back of the vehicle. Within eight minutes, the children in the truck were dead.

The former SOVIET UNION – GULAG

Furthermore we wish to obtain permission to use materials from the former Soviet Union – Gulag. The Gulag was the government agency that administered the main Soviet forced labor camp systems during the Stalin era, from the 1930s until the 1950s. Through The Commission of the Russian Federation for UNESCO and The Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation we contacted The State Museum of the History of GULAG. Now we are in conversation and negotiating with the museum to donate material / ruins to the project.

Buddhas og Bamiyan

We contacted Mr. Mohammad Kacem Fazelly Ambassador and the Permanent Delegation of Afghanistan to UNESCO because of ruins from the Buddhas of Bamiyan which was destroyed in Afghanistan by Taliban in 2001 to demolish holy icons and disrespect ideologic of the religion. That request is now in process by the Government of Afghanistan.

“They say we are in place called Virginia. Several men came to grab me.        One took me away and burnt marks into my shoulder”. 

LIVERPOOL AND THE SLAVE TRADE 

Liverpool was a major slaving port and its ships and merchants dominated the transatlantic slave trade. The town and its inhabitants derived great civic and personal wealth from the trade which laid the foundations for the port’s future growth. Between 1700 and 1800, Liverpool in north-west England was transformed from not much more than a fishing village into one of the busiest slave-trading ports in the world and thence into a general trading port and city without peer in the 19th and 20th Centuries. An estimated 15 million Africans were transported as slaves to the Americas between 1540 and 1850. Ships from Liverpool was bound up in a global trading – known as Triangular Trade and accounted for more than 40% of the European slave trade. The legacy of the slave trade can still be seen around Liverpool today, many streets are named after wealthy shipping merchants who made their money from slavery including Penny Lane – named after James Penny and made famous in the Beatles song. The team sent a request to the Mayor of Liverpool for the possibility of donating material /ruins from the history of Liverpool’s slave traders, which could be recycled into new art pieces for the cause of freedom. Dr. Richard Benjamin, Head of the International Slavery Museum kindly offered to pick the matter up on behalf of the Mayor. The request is now under consideration. 

9/11 TERRORIST ATTACK on the World Trade Centre (Twin Towers)      

We wish to obtain permission to use materials from The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. We have come with request in cooperation with Mr.  Hlynur Gudjonsson consul General and Consulate General of Iceland to the port authority and Mr. John Ma, Chief of Staff to the Executive Director for donating material /ruins from  9/11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre (Twin Towers) which can be recycled into art pieces. The art pieces we wish to create will both symbolise the story of the events and educate people what happened on that day, dedicated with respect in memory of the victims. 

Flavian Amphitheatre

The Colosseumor Coliseum, also known as Flavian Amphitheatre (Latin: Amphitheatrum Flavium; Italian: Anfiteatro Flavio or Colosseo) is an elliptical amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy. Built of concrete and stone, it is the largest amphitheatre in the world, and is considered one of the greatest works of architecture and engineering. The building ceased to be used for entertainment in the early medieval era. It was later reused for such purposes as housing, workshops, quarters for a religious order, a fortress, a quarry, and a Christian shrine. Once the largest amphitheatre of Ancient Rome where gladiators, criminals and lions alike fought for their lives, the Colosseum remains a world renowned, iconic symbol of the Roman Empire. The Colosseum is now under reconstruction and the project team has sent a request to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation to obtain permission to use ruins from the Colosseum for creating art pieces.

The bombing of Guernica

‘Refusing the night the wounds and blows’

The bombing of Guernica (26 April 1937) was an aerial attack on the Basque town of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War. It was carried out at the behest of the Spanish nationalist government by its allies, the German air force’s Condor Legion and the Italian Aviazione Legionaria, under the code name: Operation Rügen. The bombing is considered one of the first raids on a defenceless civilian population by a modern air force. The number of victims of the attack is still disputed; the Basque government reported that 1,654 people had died.

The bombing was the subject of a famous anti-war painting by Pablo Picasso. It was also depicted in a woodcut by the German artist Heinz Kiwitz, who was later killed fighting in the International Brigades.The bombing shocked and inspired many other artists, including a sculpture by René Iché, one of the first electroacoustic music pieces by Patrick Ascione, of a musical composition by René-Louis Baron and a poem by Paul Eluard (Victory of Guernica). There is also a short film from 1950 by Alain Resnais entitled Guernica. The team contacted the, and for cooperation to obtain permission to use materials /ruins from the town of Guernica.The team contacted the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports in Spain, Gernika-Lumo Town Council and Department for Education, Language Policy and Culture of the Basque Government for cooperation to obtain permission to use materials /ruins from the town of Guernica.

GRAVEYARD OF LENIN MONUMENTS AND STALIN STATUES

The project team is now preparing to collect Lenin and Stalin Statues from the Baltic countries for the artists to create art pieces and functional objects. It will be auctioned for the good purpose of humanitarian. We have contacted Mr. Viliumas Malinauskas the founder of the Grūtas Park in Lithuania and the Nobel Prize Winner for Pease in 2001 about our request for providing statues to the project. Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, better known as Lenin (22 April 1870 – 21 January 1924) was a Russian lawyer, revolutionary, and the leader of the Bolshevik party and of the October Revolution. He was the first leader of the USSR and the government that took over Russia in 1917. Lenin’s ideas became known as Leninism. Lenin grew critical of Stalin, and many other Bolsheviks at this time, but in 1922 a stroke forced Lenin into semi-retirement. Lenin recommended Stalin’s dismissal. However, after Lenin’s death in 1924, Stalin suppressed documentation of Lenin’s recommendation. Joseph Stalin was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union’s Central Committee from 1923 until his death in 1953. In the years following Lenin’s death in 1924, he rose to become the leader of the Soviet Union. The exact number of deaths caused by Stalin’s regime is still a subject of debate, but it is widely agreed to be in the order of millions.