A Vladimir Lenin statue in Nowa Huta, Poland has been re-erected for Krakow’s 6th Grolsch ArtBoom Festival, reborn in fluorescent green as The Fountain of the Future sculpture. His hands, which are customarily depicted tucked behind his back or pointing towards the alleged Communist Utopia ahead, have also been altered — one of them is now holding his pipe-penis, which spurts out water in a realistic stream. The former leader now appears to be pissing, like so many of those pissing cherub statues.
The original statue was removed from the Central Square in 1989 after the collapse of Communism in Poland. Anti-regime activists attempted to blow up twice — once in the 1970s and in the 1980s.
This gaudy resurrection reminds of artist David Černý’s pointedly pink’ed Soviet Tank No. 23 in 1991, and the constantly vandalized bronze relief of “liberating” Soviet forces in Bulgaria. (Photos: Metro, Fotopolska)
