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Austrian art institution refuses to scrap Terminator statue, suspends international campaign for the time being.
Monday, September 30, 2002

Source: http://forum.mur.at/terminator/

GRAZ, Austria (forum stadtpark) - Following Arnold Schwarzenegger's personal letter in which he encouraged Forum Stadtpark "not to erect a Terminator monument" in his Austrian hometown of Graz and "strongly suggested" to use the needed money for "much more important efforts", "to aid the poor", Forum Stadtpark discussed in depth the consequences of Mr. Schwarzenegger's stance on the subject.

Despite Mr. Schwarzenegger's "encouragement", Forum Stadtpark is not planning to abandon its call for a Terminator statue. Considering overwhelming worldwide reactions (hundreds of emails and press reports) and the obvious quality of the Terminator monument as drafted by Russian artists Aristarkh Chernyshev and Vladislav Efimov, it would be more than a pity to let the project be "terminated" just like that.

However Arnold Schwarzenegger's personal opinion is taken seriously and Forum Stadtpark suspends its international campaign for the time being. "It doesn't make sense to make a campaign for a Terminator monument against "Terminator". Therefore we wait and observe. One cannot exclude that Mr. Schwarzenegger and other opponents of the project change their minds. A giant Terminator monument like this might be the major tourist attraction for Graz and the best PR the forthcoming Terminator movie can get," says Herwig Hoeller, spokesman for the project.

Aristarkh Chernyshev from Moscow, one of the authors of the project, comments critically on Schwarzenegger's opinion. "Schwarzenegger as a person isn't too important, since this should be a monument to a robot, a monument to technology and even pop-culture to a certain extent," he explains. "Nevertheless Arnie's support would have been important, but he obviously didn't grasp the essence of our proposal," Chernyshev adds and explicitly disagrees with Schwarzenegger's suggestion to use the resources needed for the monument to help the poor. "If one would follow his suggestion, why shouldn't mankind abandon showbiz to help the disabled, poor and Third World countries. Art should not and cannot be seen as an alternative to social and humanitarian engagement," Chernyshev concludes.

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