Andrea Sodomka
:
Kirchstetten Palace Park
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Two panes of glass printed with statements, quotations from Bertha von Suttner, were placed in a pine grove in Schlosspark. A third shows the author doing peace work, sitting at her desk.
Project no longer on view
Two objects present examples of Bertha von Suttner’s handwriting while the third shows Bertha von Suttner sitting at her desk, at work as a writer for peace. The quality of the surface of the objects changes, depending on the viewer’s position and the incidence of the light, since the surroundings are partly reflected in the glass. The silkscreen, with its white paint, on the one hand, and the transparency of the glass on the other, help to produce a highly realistic impression, allowing Bertha von Suttner to sit – as it were, among the greenery – in the park belonging to her family. In this work, it is less a matter of finding a point, than of opening up an area. The positioning of the glass panels in a fir grove was decided upon in collaboration with the garden architect Franz Body, since the position in which the monument stands is an integral component of the work.
The handwritten texts:
(Municipal Library, Vienna, I.N. 119.057, Schloss Harmannsdorf, Lower Austria) 29.11.93
"Ich pflege jene, die ein Autogramm von mir verlangen, aufzufordern, sich der Friedensgesellschaft anzuschliessen, um so die Aufrichtigkeit ihrer mir zugesicherten "Verehrung" kundzutun.
Bertha v. Suttner"
(I take care to ask everyone who wants an autograph from me to join the Society for Peace, in order to prove the sincerity of the 'esteem' in which they hold me.
Bertha v. Suttner)
(National Library, Vienna, Anth. 124/4-2, to Milena Wlodzimirska, shortened) 5/11 1901
"Geehrtes Fräulein (...) Meinen Posten kann ich nicht verlassen. Aber jede neue Liga, die dem hohen Zwecke der drei heiligen F Friede, Freiheit und Freude zustrebt – und noch das vierte heilige F Frauenrecht dazu – die kann meiner vollen Zustimmung sicher sein. (...)
Hochachtungsvoll
Bertha Suttner"
(Dear Miss... I cannot desert my post. Yet every new league which aspires to the high goal of the three holy Fs Friede, Freiheit, Freude (‘Peace, Freedom and Happiness’) – and furthermore also the fourth holy F Frauenrecht ('Women's Rights') – can be assured of my complete support...
Yours sincerely
Bertha Suttner)
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