Vancouver Biennale Exhibition

[officedweller]

and now dismantled...

Richmond Review
Lenin and Mao dismantled

http://media.bclocalnews.com/images/400*300/97555richmondleninmaobeheaded2.jpg
Crews were dismantling Richmond's most controversial piece of public art Wednesday.
Matthew Hoekstra photo

By Matthew Hoekstra - Richmond Review

Published: January 27, 2010 11:00 AM
Updated: January 27, 2010 2:40 PM


It's survived eggs, dirt and crude vandalism, but on Wednesday morning the city's most controversial public art appeared as though its opponents finally won.

A truck-mounted crane carefully lifted Miss Mao off Lenin's head, placing it on a flatbed truck parked on the vacant lot across from Rona on Elmbridge Way.

Some have called Miss Mao Trying to Poise Herself at the Top of Lenin's Head great public art and a win for freedom of speech. Others have blasted it as an eyesore exalting communist dictators.

The Chinese Consultate has requested the Vancouver Biennale, which installed the piece, to remove it.

"For the Olympics," shrugged one onlooker watching crews dismantle the sculpture with mild surprise.

But Lenin and Mao aren't leaving town just yet. Artists Zhen and Qiang Gao are having their work reconfigured to reflect their original design.

The larger-than-life bust of Lenin is composed of several stainless steel sections, and the pieces were installed perfectly aligned to form a crisp, clear image of Lenin.

The Beijing-based artists, however, intended the pieces to be slightly offset.

"We are literally making sure that the installation is done according to the exact specifications of the artists, which is to show Lenin's head as fragmented," said Miriam Blume, spokesperson of the Vancouver Biennale.

The statue could reassembled as soon as later today.

That may cause some people to change their opinions of the artwork, which shows a feminized Mao Zedong balancing on top of Vladimir Lenin.

Blume isn't sure if opinions will change, but said the sculpture will now "properly reflect the political commentary" of the artists."

Said Blume: "How people take that is for people to determine."