vrijdag 17 juni 2011

Indien und nicht Amerika

by

2 opmerkingen:

Anoniem zei

What does it mean? (view from Lidewij's office)

2:31 p.m.
li zei

copied from the university website:

The sculpture INDIA AND NOT AMERICA is a three-dimensional perceptual image of the good fortune which befalls people who make mistakes. A perceptual image about the often bizarre relationship between human thought and human action, on the productive falling through of the plans and ideas of researchers, discoverers and artists. INDIA AND NOT AMERICA is to be understood as an artistic impetus for brainstorming, as a plea for differing opinions and the throwing over of fixed ideas.

Columbus' discovery is the metaphor for the banal and simultaneously fundamental understanding that there is no equals sign between intention and result. Columbus was searching for the sea route to India - and discovered India, due to a flaw in his reasoning, a serious mistake and a vision. He had miscalculated the earth's circumference. This resulted in, as the historian Federico di Trocchio wrote, "The greatest discovery in the history of mankind" - from a European point of view anyway. It was no stroke of luck for the natives.

INDIA AND NOT AMERICA was set up on the campus of the University of Constance in the spring of 2000. The sculpture relates to the university as a place of learning and research. The writing can be seen from the neigh-bouring institutes as a largely legible text. At close quarters it offers seating accommodation. The letters are made of steel and 40 cm high.

F. THE BOOK

A book of the same name is published to accompany the sculpture INDIA AND NOT AMERICA. It is a piece of art in itself and at the same time an experiment. The theme turns up again in the structure of the sculpture. The book documents the sculpture in detail, both in words and pictures and the second part of the book forms a collection of writings by 21 authors. I ask the authors the question: where/when/how have you experienced the good fortune of making a mistake yourself, whether in your personal life, your academic field, your art? What does this experience mean to you? What conclusions can be drawn?

The selection of the authors will not be made my me personally however, but will take place by means of a "chain letter". I do not know which course this will take. I am casting the first stone on the water and watch-ing what happens next. I a choosing the first author myself. He will write a text and, at the same time, will choose the next author, the one from whom he expects an interesting contribution. Each author is at liberty to select whoever he wants to be next. If he wants to take part in the project, he commits himself to contribute a text, and to select another author and to get into contact with them. This person should not live in the same country as himself, nor should they be a part of the same cultural environment as himself.

In this way a circle of 21 participants comes into being (positions 1 - 21). These take their places on the 21 letters of the circle of letters as it were, and recite their contributions.




For additional information contact: info@rudolfherz.de

3:00 p.m.

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