Statues Of Whistleblowers Edward Snowden, Julian Assange, Bradley Manning Unveiled in Berlin, Germany
In an art installation dubbed “Anything to Say?,” bronze sculptures of whistleblowers Edward Snowden, Julian Assange, and Bradley Manning have been unveiled on Friday in central Berlin.
The statues of whistleblowers are the work of Italian artist Davide Dormino, and the installation was unveiled by activists and members of the Green Party in Germany as part of the May Day celebrations in Berlin.
The three sculptures are lined up, standing on chairs in Alexanderplatz in the center of Berlin, along with one other empty chair.
According to the website for the installation, “Anything to Say,” the extra chair was placed there by the sculptor to encourage people to stand on it to share their own messages to the public alongside the statues of whistleblowers in what is considered to be an art project for freedom of speech.
Bronze sculpture featuring Edward #Snowden, Julian #Assange and Chelsea #Manning at Alexanderplatz square in #Berlin pic.twitter.com/2Oh5VTZ0B4
— #Mayday (@FibsFreitag) May 2, 2015
The Local Germany reports that hundreds of people gathered in Alexanderplatz Friday to watch the statues of the whistleblowers being unveiled on a day which also saw celebrations for May Day or Labor Day.
The art project, “Anything to Say?” is introduced in the video below.
Anything to say? a public art project for freedom from NUfactory on Vimeo.
The artist told the German media that several people were already taking the opportunity to share their views from the extra chair next to the statues of whistleblowers Snowden, Assange, and Manning.
“[People are saying] many different things. From politics to babbling to silence, from people who desperately are wanting to help Julian, Bradley and Edward to people who have no idea who they are, this chair is, I guess, a place of free speech.”
“It doesn’t matter what you say. You can say whatever you want, anything you want. Children are even standing up here.”
Many in Germany consider the three whistleblowers to be heroes after sharing the controversial U.S. intelligence documents, starting with Bradley Manning handing over intelligence including the controversial video “Collateral Damage” to WikiLeaks, the various releases by Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks and the later NSA worldwide surveillance data passed on by Edward Snowden.
Statues to @wikileaks‘ @JulianAssange_ Edward Snowden and Bradley Manning unveiled in Berlin http://t.co/BpmcyBYzJS pic.twitter.com/2kA1dcGNBX — euronews (@euronews) May 2, 2015
While many will applaud the display of the statues of whistleblowers in Alexanderplatz this is not to be a permanent fixture, as the statues are set to go on a tour around the world, giving others the opportunity to speak their minds along with the three whistleblowers.
Recently, the Inquisitr reported on another statue of Edward Snowden that was recently erected in a Brooklyn park war memorial. That statue was later removed by authorities, but was immediately replaced with a hologram image by the Illuminator Art Collective.
Below is a brief video showing some of the work involved in the statues of whistleblowers created by Dormino.
[Images: Screengrab from YouTube video]
