Pomnik Anonimowego Przechodnia, Wrocław

Anonymous Passerby is a public monument made from life-size human figures, set along Świdnicka Street where it meets Piłsudskiego Street. Fourteen bronze passers-by appear to descend into an underground passage that is not there, then emerge again beyond the roadway. Notice their sober, everyday clothing: it belongs to the 1970s, making these silent walkers seem to have stepped out of another era and into present-day traffic.

The idea began with Jerzy Kalina’s 1977 installation Passage in Warsaw, created for a television programme. That earlier work used plaster figures dressed in real clothing covered with paint. After the installation was dismantled, the figures remained in Wrocław’s National Museum stores for 28 years; they then served as models for this monument. Wrocław unveiled the bronze work overnight between 12 and 13 December 2005.