Cyberpunk In St. Petersburg: Historic Statue Gets A Security Camera For A Head

A street artist who works under the pseudonym lonesome_grass has turned a sculpture framing the entrance to St. Petersburg’s historic Kirillov House, loacated in Russia, into a comment on public surveillance.

More: Instagram h/t: meduza

Two years ago, the statue’s head was stolen. It remained headless for several years, and lonesome_grass took advantage of that fact by installing a camera on its body. The artist called the resulting chimera “The Scarecrow.”

“Security cameras, metal detectors, selective screenings — does all this security make any sense at all? Is it capable of identifying vandals and intruders? Obviously not,” the artist wrote on Instagram.

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ПУГАЛО. Cовременнное общество одержимо безопасностью. Камеры видеонаблюдения, рамки металлоискателей, выборочная проверка — но имеет ли вся эта безопасность хоть какой-то смысл, способна ли она остановить злоумышленников и вандалов? Очевидно, что нет. Эта наигранная защита призвана внушить уважение и страх, но, как и огородное пугало, способна пугать только птиц. Весь этот театр безопасности только создаёт значительные неудобства простым гражданам, но не мешает злоумышленникам и служит средством насилия в руках властей. Scarecrow Modern society is obsessed with idea of security. CCTV, metal detectors, random physical searches — do all these measures really make a difference and can it really stop a crime or vandalism? Obviously no. All that assumed security is supposed to fill you with fear and respect, yet just like a scarecrow it can only scare birds. The theatrical performance of security only succeed in making common people's life more complicated, while it can't stop a real crime and mostly serve as a mean of oppression in goverment's hands #пугало #скульптура #Питер #камерывидеонаблюдения #безопасность #стритартспб #вандализм #пабликарт #современноеискуство #художники #петроградка #lonesome_grass #street_art_spb #cctv #Saint-Pitersburg #vandalism #streetart #publicart #artist #security #art #modernart #Ourstreet #life_is_street #documentaryfoto #Cctv相机安全 #安全 #怪物 #街头艺术 #当代艺术

A post shared by L_G (Lonesome_Grass) (@lonesome_grass) on Aug 4, 2019 at 3:28am PDT