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Artist to (virtually) restore Buddhas
Afghanistan's famous Bamiyan Buddhas are due to be recreated by multicoloured laser images projected onto the cliffs where they once stood. The 1,600-year-old statues, which stood on the Silk Road in the Bamiyan Valley, were destroyed by the Taleban in 2001.Artist Hiro Yamagata will use solar and wind power to project a series of images onto four miles of clay cliffs. So, will the Islamic terrorists blow them up as "idols," or will environmental terrorists blow up the windmills because they kill birds? Afghan government officials, who approached the Japanese artist in 2003, are awaiting approval from Unesco. Fourteen laser systems would project 140 faceless images, standing up to 175ft tall, onto the cliff-face for four hours every Sunday night. United Nations cultural organisation Unesco must assess whether the laser beams could damage the cliffs Yamagata estimated the project would cost $9m and that it would be completed by June 2007. Afghan Airways is planning a tourist package. The California-based artist, who visited Bamiyan in 2003, hoped his artwork would give something back to the war-torn region by using the imported windmills to provide power for surrounding villages. Good. A little electricity and perhaps some clean water would do wonders for child mortality. He also planned to employ local workers to build the foundations for the windmills. "Many people say, 'My art will heal the people,'" said Yamagata. "Of course I help people, but it's more about not harming people." "I'm doing a fine art piece. That's my purpose - not for human rights, or for supporting religion or a political statement." Zahir Aziz, Afghan ambassador to Unesco, confirmed that an earlier Swiss plan to rebuild the Buddhas at the cost of $30m per statue had been discarded. Seriously, I like it. Posted by: Jackal 2005-08-09 |
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