The authorities of Kassel and artist Olu Oguibe have launched a fundraising campaign to raise money for the obelisk created for last year’s Documenta 14 art festival.
Olu Oguibe’s Monument to Strangers and Refugees, 2017. Source: ART iT
They are seeking €600,000, the price offered by the artist for his work, though he claims he had offers from other cities for the obelisk, but “the work was designed specifically for Kassel and the public square on which it stands”, the Art Newspaper writes.
The obelisk has messages in four languages, reminding viewers that hospitality can save lives and counter the bigotry that makes people turn away refugees. Earlier, representatives of the far-right AfD party protested against the monument and threatened to call for public protests outside the monument after each terrorist act carried out by refugees.
Olu Oguibe‘s Monument to Strangers and Refugees, 2017. Source: ART iT
The monument was installed on Königsplatz, the place where Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was once refused a hotel room because he spoke French to the innkeeper.
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