I think that the concentration camp lego is "art" and I've definitely seen worse. I mean those victims are already skeletons, wtf? Emaciated lego-men would've been better. I also like how there are no distinguishing Nazi memorabilia and that it's called the Lego "System". I actually think the artist shows a great deal of restraint in this piece. There are so many worse things he could've done with this idea.

Matching children's toys with tough themes appeals to me.

about this artist and piece:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zbigniew_Libera

Thanks Slim! So now I get it.

The Jewish Museum in New York City exhibited these sets in 2002 as part of a show entitled Mirroring Evil: Nazi Imagery/Recent Art. Critics charged that Libera's sets trivialize the Holocaust. Defenders argue, however, that the LEGO sets mirror the evil-minded ingenuity required to construct the concentration camps as instruments of terror. Art historical criticism, like that proposed by Ernst van Alphen, has argued that these toys seek to represent and refigure the Holocaust in a more familiar register that recovers its meaning from overbearing Holocaust education programs. Art historian Norman Kleeblatt proposes a similar reading, understanding the works as a study into the Foucauldian biopower of concentration camps.

Thanks for the info Slim.

i have seen a shit ton of stuff done with LEGO in the name of art that is totally out of whack with the companies core values. while i can't say i support or love all i have seen by a longshot i guess i appreciate the thought process if it is done to evoke a response or project a message.

I remember when the Lego concentration camp pieces were exhibited, Lego went apeshit. If I remeber, the artist even got Lego to donate the 'raw material' that he reassembled into his show. Maybe they chilled out when they thought about the ideas he was presenting. This was not Sid wearing his Swatzstika tshirt for shock. Confronting controversial subjects does not mean you are supporting them.

Oops! I guess Slim beat me to it.

Yeah, I think it's a very interesting way of representing a very difficult subject.

It's like a sterile version of the Chapman brothers "Hell". Still very creepy and very effective.

Here's my current fav lego dealio.

so back to the topic at hand...are lucky bags being sold to the unwashed masses online?

I saw that LEGO concentration camp exhibit years ago - either in Seattle or NYC, can´t remember (I think Seattle). But the way it was presented and displayed was very well done - if it was in Seattle then it was the only memorable part of the exhibit.
And at least by that point LEGO was fully in support of the artist.

I thought it was pretty goddamn funny