DISPATCH
The trash attack
The Pyramids
have seen a lot, but probably nothing like this before.
Text and
photos by Tarek Atia
(cairolive.com,
May 18, 2002)
This is a
photo-rich version of cairolive.com's coverage of the Ha Schult garbage
sculpture exhibition at the Great Pyramids, Giza. To
read regular version click here
The guard at the Ha
Schult exhibition on the Giza plateau was waxing poetic about what the
thousand life-size statues of garbage warriors meant to him:
"We're building
up our garbage faster than we can get rid of it. See all these soldiers
-- they're made of tin cans, metal containers, all the things that don't
ever go away."
It was an apt
description of the exhibition, put together by a German artist who has
done similar such monumental work -- using trash as art -- around the
world. Previous shows have taken place at the Great Wall of China and
Moscow's Red Square.
This display, vast
and looking like a sci-fi rendition of the famous Egyptomania films of
the past, has the 3 Great Pyramids of Giza as its backdrop. It is
located several kilometers behind Menkaure, the third and smallest of
the three, accessible via a path cut through the sand.
The place was
deserted. The guard claimed that visitors have been coming, but we were
the only ones there on a Friday afternoon. The event had not been
marketed. There were no signs, no pamphlets, nothing but 1000 statues
neatly lined up in colorful regiments against stark desert and endless
blue sky.
The Ha Schult
exhibition runs at the Giza Plateau until May 20.
WHAT
DO YOU THINK?
MAKE YOUR
VOICE HEARD
Send a comment to cairolive.com
Disclaimer
and Terms of Use
© Copyright 1996-2005 cairolive.com. All Rights Reserved
|