Lenin’s Missing Arm

In the city of Kotka in Finland – as a goodwill gesture towards Russia – a monument of Lenin was erected, designed by a Finnish artist. The artist combined realistic submissiveness with a contemporary commentary and deprived Lenin of his – symbolic – left arm. The figure looks peculiar with the limb missing. The Finns were somewhat embarrassed by this monument and the bushes surrounding it were allowed to become overgrown. Krzysztof M. Bednarski, inspired by the Finnish artist’s weird concept, decided to complete the sculpture. At some distance from the monument he erected a pedestal on which he mounted a cast in bronze of the missing arm; viewed from a certain angle, it appeared to complete the sculpture. For the Finns, this intervention became a cultural justification for the symbolic presence of Lenin. The monument was cleaned up and restored to view.
On the basis of this project, a work was made for the gallery, in which the real monument is replaced with projection or a
photograph.