Just in time for the new Star Wars movie premiere, an artist in Odessa has unveiled a monument of Darth Vader repurposed from a Lenin statue. Dumskaya has the report.
Ukraine’s fascination with Darth Vader continues, as a factory in Odessa unveils the world’s first Darth Vader monument. The figure is the work of local artist Alexander Milov, who’s previously designed a gigantic robot statue, erected in the city of Yuzhne, outside Odessa.
Milov’s statue is more than art: there’s also a router built into Vader’s head, delivering Wi-Fi to the area around the Sith Lord.
Milov created the Vader statue by repurposing an existing Lenin statue that previously stood at the factory. The statue was scheduled for demolition, in accordance with a new Ukrainian law on de-Communization, requiring the elimination of all landmarks and geographic names dedicated to Lenin and other Communist figures. Workers at this Odessa factory, however, requested that the statue be redesigned, rather than demolished.
Related, check out Aleksandra Domanović’s video “Turbosculpture” (2010-2013) below.