Harry Potter's specs in exhibit
2008-01-15 18:39
London - Actor Daniel Radcliffe, best known as spectacle-wearing teen wizard Harry Potter, is giving his first pair of glasses to an art exhibit marking Holocaust Memorial Day in England.
The 18-year-old Brit, whose mother is Jewish, joins ex-Beatle Ringo Starr, John Lennon's widow Yoko Ono, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and US talk show host Jerry Springer in donating glasses to the project in the northwestern English city of Liverpool later this month.
The artwork will feature thousands of pairs of glasses twisted together. The artistic director is keeping the final display under wraps, but it's rumoured the specs will be formed in the shape of a railway track, to remind people of the horrors of the rail transportation of Jews throughout Europe to Nazi concentration camps.
"It's inspired by images of mounds of glasses found in concentration camps, but it's not a replica of that. The artistic director will shape them into something completely different," said Peter Elliot, spokesperson for the Holocaust Memorial Day.
The display will run for a week from January 21, ahead of the January 27 commemoration service in Liverpool. The city is Britain's official host of Holocaust Memorial Day, marking the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.
Coincidentally, Liverpool actor Jason Isaacs who plays the evil Lucius Malfoy in the Harry Potter films, will help lead the multi-faith service.
Organisers are collecting 110 000 spectacles donated from around the world. The display will be surrounded by mirrors multiplying the number of glasses to 330 000 - the number of Jews living in Britain at the time of the Holocaust.
Radcliffe's black-framed oval glasses he wore as a six-year- old, along with the other famous pairs, will be auctioned off for charity. The rest will gain a new life in the developing world after being distributed through the charity Vision Aid Overseas.