Like everyone else, I am also wondering if there is life on Mars. Recently with the Phoenix mission to explore the planet Mars, researchers have discovered that there’s ice on the red planet. This is fascinating news because where there is water, there is a good chance that there might be or might have been life on Mars.

But for now…there’s one Martian fighting machine on Earth in the town of Woking, located west of Surrey, England. His code name: The Woking Martian. Why they called it The Woking Martian? Simply because Woking was chosen as the location for the sculpture due to its historical connections. H. G. Wells, the author of the novel “The War of the Worlds” lived in the town. This best-known science fiction novel describes an invasion of England by aliens from Mars which has influenced  many people and spawned many films, radio dramas, comic books and even a television series based on the story.

The Woking Martian sculpture was created by Michael Condron and unveiled in April 1998. Made with chrome plated stainless steel this sculpture is 7 meters tall with legs 17 centimeters in diameter. Next to the statue there’s a caption:

THE WOKING MARTIAN 1998 BY MICHEAL CONDRON. THIS SCULPTURE WAS UNVEILED BY THE MAYOR OF WOKING, CLLR. MRS IRENE MATTHEWS APRIL 1998.THIS SCULPTURE IS THE ARTIST’S INTERPRETATION OF A “WALKING ENGINE OF GLITTERING METAL”. IT CELEBRATES WOKING AS THE BIRTHPLACE OF MODERN SCIENCE-FICTION AND MARKS THE CENTENARY OF H.G.WELLS ‘FIRST EDITION OF’ THE WAR OF THE WORLDS. IN THIS PIONEERING NOVEL HUMANITY IS SAVED FROM AN OVERWHELMING MARTIAN INVASION BY EARTH’S SMALLEST CREATURES, BACTERIA.

Source: Flickr [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]

   

   

   

 9 Comments to Art: The Woking Martian Statue

2008-08-06 03:20:05
Voila! ain’t that cute.. Eh! and ya i’ve read that HG stuff..

and dear that explanation in all caps bold says the sculpture as working martian.. please change that to woking.

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2008-08-06 04:36:54
Cool, Thanks for the head up! :wink:

 
 
2008-08-06 04:16:29
Wow I love it it’s really great.

 
2008-08-06 23:16:38
Weird but interesting. And as for H G Wells, he was an author way ahead of his times, film makers these days should take pointers from him in terms of originality and futuristic thinking.

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2008-08-07 01:13:03
This genre is underrepresented in modern art. One can expect more to come from unusual places, particularly china which apparently has some fantastic creators not known outside.

This takes some courage for city officials to sponsor something like this.

 
2008-08-07 01:55:24
that was really amazing! nice photo! :razz:

 
2008-08-07 02:44:30
Weird statue. But the unique shape attract people to see it…And the rounding text is really hard to read.

 
2008-08-07 09:50:29
I like it!! I think the life is on Mars indeed

 
2008-08-08 11:36:15
I like this statue. It does remind me of War of the Worlds! If only I had a shred of the creativity it took to come up with this statue. I’d love to visit and view this up close and personal.

 
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