Jens Galschiot

Galschiøt mounted one-ton heavy black concrete sculptures in famous places in twenty cities across Europe. The sculptures represent a pig in human clothes. The purpose was, in an untraditional way, to focus on the increasing violence, intolerance, racism and persecution of minorities, that Europe had been witnessing. In November 1993, the twenty sculptures of my inner beast were erected within 55 hours without the knowledge of the authorities. The sculptures created a lot of commotion and debate in political circles, in the press and in the public. In several places, a permanent position has been found for my inner beast that was a gift to each city. More than 100 volunteers contributed to the happening.

In the 1960s, the buildings were built for the Næsby Car Body Factory and served for many years as one of the largest garages at Funen, but in the context of the economic crisis in the late 1990s the factory closed, and the buildings stood empty for five years. In 1994 Galschiøt bought the factory complex along with several of the surrounding buildings and adjoining land so that the area now is about 10,000 square metres.

Pillar of Shame is a series of Galschiøt's sculptures. The first was erected in Hong Kong on 4 June 1997, ahead of the handover from British to Chinese rule on 1 July 1997, as a protest against China's crackdown of the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. The Pillar of Shame is eight metres high and depicts twisted human bodies. On 30 April 2008, the Pillar was painted orange by Chinese democracy activists as part of the worldwide Color

On 1 May 1999, a Pillar of Shame was set up on the Zócalo in Mexico City. It stood for two days in front of the Parliament to protest the oppression of the region's indigenous people. The Pillar was later moved to a site at the entrance of the village of Acteal in Chiapas, where 45 unarmed indigenous people were killed by a paramilitary group on 22 December 1997. The re-erection of the sculpture was attended by hundreds of local people. On 22 December 2003, plates in the local language Tzotzil were donated to the inhabitants of Acteal. The original plates on the Pillar were in Spanish and English - languages that many indigenous people do not understand.

On 17 April 2000, a Pillar of Shame was erected in front of the Brazilian Parliament in Brasília to commemorate 19 landless peasants who were killed by the military police in the northern state of Pará on 17 April 1996. It was mounted in co-operation with the MST (the landless peasants movement) and opposition MPs. The sculpture was erected despite exacerbated resistance from the right wing and sections of the government. The Minister of Justice said that: "This sculpture will never be set up in front of the Brazilian Parliament." On 1 May, the Pillar of Shame was permanently erected in Belém, capital of the northern state of Pará, where the Eldorado massacre had taken place in connection with a land occupation. Mayor Edmilson Rodrigues declared at the inauguration: "Despite of resistance from the elite, we stick to our promise of setting up the Pillar of Shame as a symbol opposing oppression and violence that is taking a toll of lives and depriving people of their rights".

Hans Christian Andersen Prize. Every year since 1996 Galschiot has made a copper casting of Andersen's book The Adventures of my Life. A poem of Andersen and the name of the prize receiver are engraved. The sculpture is awarded to three persons who have contributed to the propagation of the storyteller's works. The prize has been awarded, among others, to German writer Günter Grass, the American film producer Steven Spielberg and in 2004 to Margrethe II.

Orange campaign launched by Galschiot to denounce China's human rights violations. The event was held to coincide with the Olympic Games held in Beijing in August 2008. Galschiot and his staff went to Hong Kong to take part in the event but were denied entrance by the Hong Kong immigration authorities.

Galschiot has also created “Pillars of Scriptures” for the project, where the 600 quotes are displayed on monitors. The project has been exhibited at Silkeborg Bad in January 2015, and is going to be exhibited at the festival Heavenly Days in Copenhagen in 2016.