LASER SHOW TO
RESTORE BUDDHA STATUE
Copyright 2005 www.tombraiderchronicles.com
[ August 10th 2005 ]
A Japanese
archaeologist plans to recreate two 1,600-year-old
Buddha statues lining Bamiyan Valley's soaring
cliffs by projecting multicoloured laser images
onto the clay cliff-sides where the figures once
stood, Associated
Press reports today.
The original
fifth-century statues were destroyed by the former
Taliban regime using dynamite and artillery. The
fundamentalist group considered the Buddhas idolatrous
and anti-Muslim.
"I'm
doing a fine art piece. That's my purpose - not
for human rights, or for supporting religion or
a political statement," said the 58-year-old artist,
whose other laser works include a recent display
at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain.
Against
a canvas of desert darkness, 14 laser systems
will project 140 overlapping faceless "statues"
sweeping four miles across Bamiyan's cliffs in
neon shades of green, pink, orange, white and
blue. Each image will continuously change colour
and pattern, AP reports.
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