What are you saying? (Nikolai Winter)
Switzerland
Flipping The Bird In St. Moritz: 'Stinkefinger' Sculpture Salutes Jet-Set Skiers
Nikolai Winter can be sure his latest sculpture will get some attention: located on a mountaintop at one of the jet set’s favorite ski resorts, his “elegant” female hand is flipping the bird to all the rich and famous who whiz by.
What are you saying? (Nikolai Winter)
February 02, 2012
*NEWSBITES
Visitors to the exclusive ski resort of St. Moritz, in Switzerland, are in for a surprise: the sight of a large sculpture of a woman's hand – giving the finger!
The artwork by Basel-based Swiss artist Nikolai Winter sits atop Berg Muottas Muragl in Samedan (St. Moritz). The anthracite-colored sculpture, which is 2.3 meters (7.55 feet) high, was flown in by helicopter.
On his website, Winter states: "Hands especially fascinate me. They can be shown in various postures and sometimes even have a symbolic character. Therefore I use their communicative impact to give my sculptures aura and expression."
Sure, but in this case, the nail-polished hand leaves little doubt to what it "symbolizes," though one might wonder whether the finger is being given by or to those skiing past.
Winter is quoted in German as saying: "In a sexy, provocative but elegant way that sort of embodies the Jet Set a ‘doigt d'honneur" now sits perched above the über-chic resort of St. Moritz." Winter used the somewhat more sonorous French term "doigt d'honneur" to denote the digit rather than the inelegant-sounding German term "Stinkefinger."
Winter's striking sculpture is now the fourth artwork on the 2,400-meter (7,874-foot) Muottas Muragl -- but by far the most "expressive."
Read the full story in German by Anna Warnholtz
Photo - Nikolai Winter
*Newsbites are digest items, not direct translations
You've reached your limit of free articles.
To read the full story, start your free trial today.
Get unlimited access. Cancel anytime.
Exclusive coverage from the world's top sources, in English for the first time.
Insights from the widest range of perspectives, languages and countries.
Already a subscriber? Log in
FOCUS: Russia-Ukraine War
Ukrainians In Occupied Territories Are Being Forced To Get Russian Passports
Reports have emerged of children, retirees, and workers being forced by the Russian military and occupying administration to obtain Russian Federation passports, or face prison, beating or loss of public benefits.
Russian passport
Iryna Gamaliy
March 20, 2023
It's referred to as: "forced passportization." Reports are accumulating of police and local authorities in the Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine requiring that locals obtain Russian passports. Now new evidence has emerged that Ukrainians are indeed being coerced into changing their citizenship, or risk retribution from occupying authorities.
Stay up-to-date with the latest on the Russia-Ukraine war, with our exclusive international coverage.
Sign up to our free daily newsletter.Ever since late September, when President Vladimir Putin announced Russia hadd unilaterally annexed four regions in eastern and southern Ukraine (Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson), Moscow has been seeking ways to legitimize the unrecognized annexation. The spreading of Russian passports is seen as an attempt to demonstrate that there is support among the Ukrainian population to be part of Russia.
Ukrainian military sources report Monday that locals in Kherson are threatened with imprisonment, beatings, or denial of social benefits or wages if they don't have a Russian passport at the checkpoints set up by the Russian military.
Children and elderly targeted
Meanwhile, in the occupied part of the Luhansk region, Russians are creating conditions for expediting the issuance of Russian passports to Ukrainian citizens, including minor children.
An application for termination of citizenship for a child under the age of 14 can be submitted.
"According to the recently adopted law, an application for termination of citizenship for a child under the age of 14 can be submitted by one of the parents, the sole parent, or the adoptive parent," the Luhansk Regional Military Administration reports.
For children left without parental care, mainly those permanently in an educational or medical organization providing social services, the application is submitted by a guardian or an authorized representative of such an institution without regard to the child's opinion.
In addition, elderly are forced to obtain Russian passports in order to collect their pension benefits.
"Since March, pensions have been recalculated in the territory," the pro-Russian administration announced. "A person can apply to the relevant authorities only with a Russian passport registered in the region. Passports of Ukraine ... are not accepted. If you do not have time to get a new piece of paper, you cannot wait for the recalculation."
Also, in the occupied city of Melitopol in the Zaporizhzhia region, the occupation forced have banned social services payments to residents who refuse to obtain a Russian passport.
From Your Site Articles
- Is Kyiv Ready To Risk Taking War Into Russian Territory? ›
- And Now Moscow, About All Those Russian-Speaking Ukrainians? ›
- Inside Russia’s Revival Of Stalinist “Filtration Camps” ›
Related Articles Around the Web
Keep reading...Show less
You've reached your limit of free articles.
To read the full story, start your free trial today.
Get unlimited access. Cancel anytime.
Exclusive coverage from the world's top sources, in English for the first time.
Insights from the widest range of perspectives, languages and countries.
Already a subscriber? Log in