Ewige Schande? Eternal Shame? 終わりのない罪 ? Sculpture

A multimedia project by Arun Kuplas and Emi Takihara Ewige Schande? - 終わりのない罪? (endless shame? – endless guilt?) is the allegorical presentation of historical context set in a public arena and as such the project will examine the aspects of “memory” and “space” and its concurrence with the present. The installation is designed for both interior and exterior spaces with audience participation. For the introduction of Ewige Schande? - 終わりのない罪? the artists have chosen an exterior setting. Both artists are presently living in New York but have spent their formative years in their native countries, Germany and Japan, where their individual experiences and confrontations with the aftermath of WWII became their concern. Their preoccupation with the motif of historical context built the platform for this project. For the performance two identical rectangular structures measuring 50”x50”x84” are placed side by side into the urban wasteland of New York. Each rectangle is equipped with a seating device in its center and an audio headset. A vintage Japanese style seating cushion, a Zabuton, invites to take seat and listen to the audio recording of Emperor Hirohito’s “Speech of Surrender” in one rectangle. The other rectangle is housing a 1930’s German office chair and presents Adolf Hitler’s “Declaration of War” through a similar device. Performance The performance opens with the two rectangles in place, each equipped with seating and audio setup. The artists enter the scene and walk towards their respective rectangle: Emi Takihara towards the one housing the Zabuton, Arun Kuplas towards the one displaying the chair. They take seat, pick up the headsets and listen to the audio recordings for the full duration. Once the recordings end they get up and exit the scene. Historical Space Both rectangles represent markers for the timeline of World War II, in that sense they can be seen as the embodiment of historical fact in the realm of now. Within this framework Adolf Hitler’s speech from September 1, 1939 marks the beginning and Emperor Hirohito’s speech from August 15, 1945 the end of the war. The audio recordings are presented in their original form, no translation into English, which allows an individual and unique experience. Regardless of the ability to understand the spoken word, the speeches convey their gist through the orator’s individual delivery, i.e. Hitler’s speech of the “Declaration of War” presents a very confident, aggressive and agitated leader whereas Hirohito’s “Speech of Surrender” suggests a humiliated and solemn statesman. Additionally the duration of the speeches differ significantly, Hitler’s speech lasts thirty-five minutes whereas Hirohito’s speech barely covers five minutes. Both speeches are historical documents and as such have penetrated our individual and our collective memory on a conscious or unconscious level. Physical Space and Consciousness Two identical rectangular architectural shapes are set into an environment. They are the physical embodiment of the artists’ consciousness of historical events and their implications for today. Their precise graphic contour isolates them from their surrounding and a new reality with a temporary presence is created. Two different perspectives present themselves: looking in from the outside - looking out from the inside. Looking in from the outside, Ewige Schande? - 終わりのない罪? does not betray it’s historical and political context. It presents aspects of architectural abstraction, displays objects with iconographic quality and incorporates elements of performance. It’s full potential only becomes apparent once the participant is exposed to the audio recordings and enters the realm of consciousness(memory?) – looking out from the inside, past will become real in the realm of present. Analogies The painter Francis Bacon is known to use rectangular structures in his paintings as key design elements in which he placed his subjects standing, seated on chairs or else. In a 1963 BBC interview with David Sylvester the painter comments: “I use the rectangular frame to see the image. I cut down the frame of the canvas by drawing in these rectangles which concentrate the image down.” Another prominent rectangular structure appeared during the trial of Adolf Eichmann, in Jerusalem in 1961. The former Nazi SS lieutenant was charged for war crimes and his involvement in the Holocaust. In this case the defendant was attending his trial inside a rectangular frame constructed of bulletproof glass, equipped with a chair. A microphone and a pair of headsets allowed communication with the court – from the inside out and vice versa. The frames used in Ewige Schande? - 終わりのない罪? play a similar role as the above examples. Objective Ewige Schande? - 終わりのない罪? can be seen as an attempt to maintaining the memory of the past in the context of the present. Memorizing the atrocities which were performed during WWII and adding them to our collective memory will serve present and future generations when confronted with similar situations. Although the speeches anchor the project to specific locations and a time in history, the project maintains its transcendence and relevance through the fact that “history repeats itself”.

Sculpture:Wood on Steel

Original:One-of-a-kind Artwork

Size:50 W x 84 H x 50 D in

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