Living Statues come in many colors. Gold, bronze, and silver. White and black. Demons, warriors, witches, wizards, chimney sweeps, and Sunday afternoon drivers. They sit and stand, silent or with sound. Their painted faces make their eyes stand out – they amuse and scare and amaze and annoy (especially on Las Ramblas, but that’s another story). They are the living mimicking art, which mimics the living.
They are the most pervasive performers we have seen, especially in Europe; they are everywhere. In Vienna there is a twenty-five metre between-statues rule, but I’m sure they were pushing the boundaries. In Market Square, Krakow there seems to be no such law. They are derided as crate critters and standing slugs, as pitch-hoggers and mimes who can’t think of an act.
As with all performers there are the good and the bad and the ones who use online ‘Living Statue Costumes’ (aka the ugly). Some of the costumes are beautiful self-made creations, some of the performers have a whole range of tricks and can hardly be described as statues at all, some of them obviously think they’ve found a good way to make a few quid, but we’ll let you judge for yourselves:
