On September 2 (local time), in front of Kassel Central Station during Kassel Museum Night, about 50 students and residents stood in a row wearing masks resembling the ‘Comfort Women’ statue. (Image courtesy of Yonhap News)
SEOUL, Sept. 19 (Korea Bizwire) – Students from Kassel University in Germany, along with nearby residents, organized a mask demonstration chanting ‘I’m Nujin’ and ‘Save Nujin’ after the Statue of Peace ‘Nujin,’ set up by the student council, was unexpectedly removed.
On September 2 (local time), in front of Kassel Central Station during Kassel Museum Night, about 50 students and residents stood in a row wearing masks resembling the ‘Comfort Women’ statue.
Donning T-shirts bearing the imprints ‘I’m Nujin,’ or ‘Save Nujin,’ they chanted ‘Save Nujin’ repeatedly while holding pickets with the same message.
Decorating themselves as Nujin to reclaim the lost Statue of Peace, they marched through the city for about two hours, from Central Station to Konig Plaza and the City Hall, staging a guerrilla performance.
The student union of Kassel University plans to continue organizing guerrilla performances in various formats on and off campus.
A student from Kassel University’s College of Fine Arts, who co-organized the mask demonstration event, said, “After being shocked by the sudden removal of the Statue of Peace erected by Kassel University students, we held a workshop on the Statue of Peace within the College of Fine Arts.”
In July 2022, the student council of Kassel University, in collaboration with the globally renowned international modern art exhibition Kassel Documenta, permanently installed the Statue of Peace in the new park in front of the Student Union Building.
The installation marked the first of its kind within a German university campus. The student council passed a resolution for the permanent installation of the Statue of Peace through the student assembly, obtaining approval from the university for the use of the site.
The university, however, demanded that the student council remove the Statue of Peace, stating that the exhibition period had expired with the conclusion of Documenta. When the students rejected this demand, the university abruptly removed the Statue of Peace on March 9 without any prior notice.
J. S. Shin (js_shin@koreabizwire.com)
