It seemed like a great photo op, but a dare ended in embarrassment for an American student who got trapped inside a large sculpture in the shape of a vagina at Germany’s Tubingen University, reports the Sydney Morning Herald.
At about 1:45 p.m. on Friday, firefighters were called to the scene, where, they were told, someone was “stuck in a stone vulva.”
Freeing the young man, whose name has not been released, from the 32-ton red Veronese marble monolith took no less that 22 firefighters (and five fire trucks), as well as paramedics. The rescuers required no special equipment, and were able to extricate the student from the sculpture by hand, creating a surreal, oversize delivery room scene, with the artwork giving birth to a full-grown (though perhaps a little immature) man.
Erick Guzman, a fellow student, posted photos of the incident on Imgur, saying “I was there!!! He just wanted to take a funny picture.”
Tübingen’s mayor found it difficult to comprehend how such a ridiculous accident could have occurred, “even when considering the most extreme adolescent fantasies,” according to local paper Schwäbisches Tagblatt. “To reward such a masterly achievement with the use of 22 firefighters almost pains my soul,” he added.
Despite the undeniably humorous nature of the incident, said Guzman, “The fire department was not really amused, and [the student] was really embarrassed.”
An American student waiting for firefighters to free him from Fernando de la Jara’s marble vagina sculpture, Chacán-Pi (Making Love), at Germany’s Tübingen University. Photo by Erick Guzman, via Imgur.
Advice For Selfie-Seekers
Peruvian artist Fernando de la Jara installed the statue, titled Chacán-Pi (Making Love) and meant to symbolize “the gateway to the world,” according to the Guardian, in front of the university’s institute for microbiology and virology 13 years ago. It was not damaged by the student or the efforts of his rescuers.
Readers may recall that earlier this year, an Italian student who was also hoping for a fun photograph made headlines when he hopped into the lap of a statue in Milan, causing it to shatter—and that wasn’t even the most ill-advised selfie of 2014.
Two Iranian girls got into a car crash while taking a video selfie (see the footage at E Online), while a young woman in North Carolina who died behind the wheel in a car accident was photographing herself shortly before her fatal crash, as reported by the Independent. Advice for selfie-seekers: don’t ignore safety and common sense when you’re picking that perfect photo-op.