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Portrait of a sculptor |
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The intention of the fire-breathing performance is to illustrate the impact of hate and extremism on all of us. In a landscape of gloomy sculptures a speech is recited taking inspiration in Martin Luther King's famous speech I have a dream, but with the sign reversed, so that brutalisation and mental callousness are voiced. The performance is an admonition against the slide towards the inhumane society we'll witness if we do not succeed to curb the demonic sides of our mind.
The scene is a square of 15 x 15 metres. On each corner four large steel constructions are placed, each built of 3 metre high ‘Greek pillars’. On these pillars are placed the 2 metre high sculptures My Inner Beast and they are illuminated by bonfires at the bottom. |
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From each of the Greek pillars two sculptures of the Fenris wolf (from the Norse mythology) are reaching out. Inside the wolf, cast in copper, 1.5 metres long, an oil burner is installed. During the performance it will vomit flames 3-4 metres high. As demarcation of the area, between the Greek pillars are placed 50 thin, 3 metre high iron poles, each with a copper mask on the top. The masks represent distorted faces, all of them fragments from the sculpture Pillar of Shame. On the poles are attached copper hands holding oil lamps made of coca cola bottles covered with copper. The lamps associate to Molotov cocktails. The flames illuminate the masks. The 8 metre high Pillar of Shame is erected in the centre of the area. From each corner of the Pillar a Fenris wolf, 2.5 metres long is branching out. In the core of the sculptures electric kettledrums are installed. |
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The Nightmare at the Roskilde Festival, 2002 |