I Have a Dream

To commemorate the 50^thanniversary of Martin Luther Kings assassination in 1968, Dutch conceptual artist Airco Caravan produced and distributed 50 little statuettes of the famous leader and fighter against racial segregation. The artist aim was to perpetuate the spirit of the non-violent freedom fighter whose words „I have a dream“ still resonate among people who share this dream that, „one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit together at the table of brotherhood.“

Some where sent to individuals or institutions with some kind of connection to the matter, some where placed in distinct symbolic localities in public space – without permisssion. One of them was ‘donated’ to Anton de Komplein, where it was attatched to the more monumental official statue of famous Dutch-Surinamese anti-colonial and human-rights activist and resistance hero Anton de Kom. Many of the statues got destroyed, possibly by political opponents of the cause, but also by the odd drunken homeless trying to steal them, an experience that inspired  Airco Caravan to a subsequent exhibition of the damaged remains. The statue at Anton de Komplein had survived for almost half a year before being removed, but was recovered in the municipalities archives later.