GRAPHISOFT, Graphisoft Park, and AIT-Budapest dedicated a statue honoring the late Steve Jobs in Budapest’s Graphisoft Park today.
Commissioned by GRAPHISOFT Founder and Chairman of the Board, Gabor Bojar, the statue is the first in the world honoring the late founder of Apple, who passed away on October 5. Crafted by Hungarian sculptor Erno Toth, the life-like bronze statue stands near the entrance of architectural software maker GRAPHISOFT’s Budapest headquarters.
The relationship between GRAPHISOFT and Apple can be traced to the 1980’s, when Jobs came across the first version of GRAPHISOFT’s ArchiCAD software at the 1984 CeBIT in Germany. His first impressions of the software led him to throw Apple’s support behind the development and distribution of ArchiCAD. “Apple’s support included cash and computers at a time when GRAPHISOFT was a small company with limited resources, working within the economic and political confines of what was, at the time, communist Hungary,” Gabor Bojar said in the press release. Apple also introduced GRAPHISOFT to its worldwide distribution network, which remains a cornerstone of the business today. “With its attention to excellence in every detail, Graphisoft Park’s environment embodies the spirit of Steve Jobs,” Viktor Varkonyi, CEO of GRAPHISOFT said in the release. “I can’t think of a better place to commemorate the man and his legacy,” he continued.
About Graphisoft Park
Graphisoft Park is the first science/technology park in Budapest, established by GRAPHISOFT in 1997 when looking for new premises. GRAPHISOFT believed that providing the world’s best architects with the world’s best software would be possible only if the company itself could operate in a first-class architectural environment. Within a few years, several other high-tech firms rented space at the Park, attracted by its unmatched location, exceptional design, and superior services. In addition to GRAPHISOFT, tenants include SAP, Microsoft, Servier, Canon, and over 40 other high-tech companies. The mission of the Park is to enable its tenants to attract the best talent with an inspiring calm and green environment, located directly on the banks of the Danube River. Graphisoft Park SE is a public European corporation listed on the Budapest Stock Exchange.
About AIT-Budapest
Aquincum Institute of Technology was established in 2007 by Hungarian software entrepreneur, Gabor Bojar, founder of GRAPHISOFT, to provide an exceptional study abroad experience to North American undergraduates majoring in Computer Science and Engineering. AIT’s mission is to bridge the gap between academia and business. AIT’s curriculum integrates design, entrepreneurship, foundational courses and advanced applications in computer science and humanities courses related to Hungary’s rich cultural heritage. AIT brings together globally-acclaimed scholars, designers, and entrepreneurs to provide an inspiring academic environment.
About GRAPHISOFT
GRAPHISOFT ignited the BIM revolution with ArchiCAD, the industry first BIM software for architects. GRAPHISOFT continues to lead the industry with innovative solutions such as the revolutionary GRAPHISOFT BIM Server™, the world’s first real-time BIM collaboration environment, and the GRAPHISOFT EcoDesigner™, the world’s first fully integrated building energy modeling application. GRAPHISOFT’s innovative solutions have fundamentally changed the way architects around the world design and collaborate. GRAPHISOFT has been part of the Nemetschek Group, since its acquisition in 2007.
“This is shit.”
No shit
that is exactly what Steve would say. Steven Scissorhands
His fingers look like scissors!
West Side Fool!
LMAO!
Freddy Krueger will be proud to accept this honor.
Did he pose for this as he was dying?
And WTF is he supposed to be doing? Gouging out his own eyes so as not to have to look at it, maybe?
Steve helped a struggling company, later this successful company pays tribute to him….and people are crapping on it? WTF is the problem?
see above
+1
Sure it could have been a better statue. I think it reflects Steve energetically explaining an idea to someone complete with gestures.
The idea here was that it was a nice gesture on the company’s part.
Do any of you who has been given a gift from an older aunt that went out of her way to do something nice for you…just throw it back into her face cause you don’t like it?
If you do you are a mighty ungrateful and self-centred prick.
I thought it was a nice gesture myself.
Thank you, Buster.
If you are going to make a statue in honor of Steve Jobs, you’d better put his sense of beauty into it. He was a perfectionist and any work dedicated to him should reflect that. This looks like no more than a hastily created advertising publicity stunt. It looks like shit, and I find it an insult to who it’s supposed to honor.
If my “older aunt” gave me this, I’d thank her and sell the statue for it’s metal value. If Steve was alive, he would have thanked them with the same energy as if a 4 year old child with downs syndrome gave him a finger painting.
Did you ever sculpt anything out of anything other than Play-Doh??
I have a friend who is a professional sculptor, and this looks similar to his style that he has used in numerous commissioned pieces.
professional and good are two different things qka
It IS a very nice gesture, but a terrible statue, and Steve would doubtless be the first to point it out.
Buster, since reading Steve’s bio … I think Job’s would have told them this was shit and take this abortion of a statue down.
I think a better memorial to Steve would be a Zen garden with WiFi.
He’s throwing gang signs, yo….
I believe the idea may be that he is looking at one of his devices, or less likely, about to bite an Apple.
He’s a little pudgy around the waist, huh? Weird.
Real art’s hard to appreciate until you’ve lived with it a while. What is it they say…
Style is what looks good today, but tomorrow you think, “What was I thinking?”, while art is what makes people think, “What were they thinking?” today, and tomorow looks good.
The statue does look a bit like Jobs, but the head, as well as the body language, also bear a passing resemblance to 3-CPO, the “protocol droid” in the original 1977 Star Wars film and sequels. Ironic.
While he may have appreciated the thought, I don’t think he would have liked the final piece at all. What is with that pose?
Um, he looks like a kid trying to learn how to count on his fingers. Not good. Not good at all.
My guess is that he is supposed to be pondering his fingers as input devices for a multitouch interface. Instead, he looks like he is tripping.
Perhaps the picture is particularly unflattering, but I don’t like the statue at all. Nice sentiment, but poor implementation.
I would have greatly preferred a bust of SJ based on his classic photo. Or, perhaps, a pose taken from one of his keynotes.
I am also disappointed that I have not heard one peep from Apple regarding a suitable corporate memorial for such an important and influential figure. The new Apple HQ had better include such a memorial – of the highest quality.
You just wait, some smart ass will bend three of his fingers down so Steve is giving the Hungarian salute.
what’s wrong with you people?
1. the point is not how the statue was made or how much it resembles jobs or the pose etc. what matters is that a statue was made.
2. we americans should have paid respect to steve before a foreign country does! all the respect goes to hungary & graphisoft. why? simply because the pride on Made in USA sticker on products only ca,e from Appple in recent years as when you go abroad no one gave a shit about any of our other representatives. Apple was our only well run, in the black, recession-proof company. Steve’s & Apple’s efficiency & sense for economy, appeal, loyalty, respect to the population, creativity, excellence, sense of sophisticated simplicity, vision etc, would’ve made a greatly run government & nation, but we rather spit on all this…?!
bravo, Hungary, for having the cojones & vision.
What would Jobs say?
You don’t know shit about a dead man’s perspective.