Senegal unveils 50m eyesore in Dakar

[orcenio]

@Malthus

Sorta like a Senegalese counterpoint to this:
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/159/422240048_182cbf070d.jpg

Bwahahahahahahahaha! ROTFLMAO! WTF?!!

Ohhhhhhhhhhh… you just made my day.

[Ike_Witt]

Did anyone else see this and think, “man this needs to be in Civ 5?”

[ralph124c]

It is kinda charming-in a late-Stalinist-Russia kind of way. It reminds me of the Stalingrad Monument.
Of course, blowing a lot of money on a useless monument is what dictatorships do, and it didn’t evn create any local jobs (the North Koreans imported their own labor). A regular triumph of the people!

[Malthus]

@Ike_Witt

Did anyone else see this and think, “man this needs to be in Civ 5?”

What effect would it have? ‘Increase tourism - 1 new trade route per airport’?

[orcenio]

@SecondJudith

Goodness, what isn’t sexist about it? The woman has no agency or activity at all; her feet aren’t even on the ground.

Judging by her hair/dress/arms/legs she’s literally being dragged forward. The front shot is more forgiving as she seems to have her chin held high, but that’s really just an illusion.

[Zsofia]

I have to admit, I do miss Soviet realism. And I also think Soviet realism could use some more volcanoes. And I’d like to see more giant sculptures of ordinary everyday people. And I come from the city whose public art claim to fame is the, sigh, world’s largest fire hydrant. It’s sort of a fountain.

I do wish it weren’t so sexist, though. It’s like a Boris Vajello painting.

[Gyrate]

@Gestalt

All that being said, I don’t think this statute is too outrageous . . . yes it’s really big and expensive in a poor country, and the revenue generated is going to the king of the country (which I think is the most reprehensible part), but at least it’s not a Dear Leader statue.

Yeah, the fact that the king is taking a cut of the money really irritates me as well. I guess it’s good to be the king.

I kind of like the Soviet statue. I wish we had more in the US dedicated to average people, like to the American farmer, or housewife, or teacher, or whatever. The closest that comes to mind is the Iwo Jima monument, although I’m sure there are others.

I wish I could find a picture of the entirety of this building facade in Lincoln, Nebraska. Not only do you get the whole family, but they’re standing on a giant hand. It’s very, very odd.

[Marley23]

@wolfman

He’s helping her over the rocks, with an arm on the back.

He’s not helping her, he’s holding off the ground. And he’s not looking at her or the rocks, which would not be very helpful if you were trying to help someone get over some rocks.

It’s not sexist and not possessive.

It really is. It’s an interesting looking statue but this is not a tough call.

[Desert_Nomad]

Having been to Pyongyang (where there are loads of such statues) it was instantly recognizable as North Korean… they need the money so if others want to buy ridiculous statues, well… seems like a good deal for the DPRK.

[Zsofia]

@Gyrate

Yeah, the fact that the king is taking a cut of the money really irritates me as well. I guess it’s good to be the king.I wish I could find a picture of the entirety of this building facade in Lincoln, Nebraska. Not only do you get the whole family, but they’re standing on a giant hand. It’s very, very odd.

AAAAAAAHHHH! Creepy baby!

[orcenio]

@even_sven

It is kind of sexist.

But I kind of like it. Beats a lot of the utterly bizarre 1960s public monuments you find in most African capitals.

I particularly dislike this one of Laurent Kabila [

In a traffic circle near Kinshasa’s central bank stands a three-story high statue of the late President Laurent Kabila, who was a former ally of Lumumba and a Marxist guerrilla. Kabila fought against Mobutu for two decades. During the ’80s, he disappeared into Uganda, turning into a diamond smuggler. In 1997, Kabila was back, installed as president by invading Rwandan and Ugandan troops, to fill the vacuum after Mobutu died of cancer.

From the neck down, the Kabila monument looks strangely like Kim Jong Il: baggy uniform, creased pants, the raised arm, a little book in his left hand. From the neck up, the statue is the thick, grim bald mug of Laurent Kabila (his son Joseph is the current president). “The body was made in North Korea,” explains my driver Felix. In other words, the body is Kim Jong Il’s, but with a fat, scowling Kabila head simply welded on.

](http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3500/in_search_of_lumumba/)

[Hypno-Toad]

I wonder if the Koreans would make me a statue of J P Morgan, Andrew Carnegie, Cornelius Vanderbilt and John Rockerfeller? They could include a tiny little worker sticking out from under Canregie’s heel.