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Portrait of a sculptor |
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An art installation by Jens Galschiot on monotheist dogmas |
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This art installation is a warning against fundamentalism. A strictly literal reading of the holy books entails a heartless and callous attitude eventually leading to intolerance and fanaticism. This project is not anti-religious. The literal reading is to blame, not the holy books of the three monotheist reli gions. There are many beautiful words and rules in the monotheistic books, but there are also many nonsensical and callous rules rooted in a medieval civilization. The sculpture is an attempt at artistic interpretation and dialogue - a far cry from the Muhammad cartoons which were just seeking to mob and provoke Muslims - a sort of hate speech. |
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An outline of the sculpture The idea is to create a monumental bronze sculpture consisting of the letters of the word 'FUNDAMENTALISM'. The letters are 2.5 meters tall and erected in a large closed cobber circle of 9 meters. Each letter is built up of religious books the three monotheist religions: Christianity, Islam and Judaism - the book religions. There is only one entrance to the interior of the installation: a small hole through one of the letters (the T) above which a sign says 'Welcome'. When you come into the circle, you can only get out of the same opening, but here is a sign saying 'NO EXIT'. 28 monitors are integrated into the base of the sculpture. One for each letter on the outside and inside of the circle. The monitors project quotations from the holy books. On the outside of the circle they show the ‘humane’ citations while the monitors on the inside show anti humane quotes from the same books. |