Manaf Halbouni
:
Wollt Ihr Freiheit (Do You Want Freedom)
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Wollt ihr Freiheit (Do You Want Freedom) is the title of the multi-part temporary installation by the German-Syrian artist Manaf Halbouni that creates a link between the Museum ERLAUF ERINNERT and its surroundings. At the center of the installation are two sculptures cast in concrete and a wall relief. One sculpture spells the Arabic word for "Oppression," while the relief poses the question "Do you want freedom." The artist is thereby referring to the demonstrations at the beginning of the civil war in Syria, when the police asked demonstrators this rhetorical question while beating them.
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Wollt ihr Freiheit (Do You Want Freedom) is the title of the multi-part temporary installation by the German-Syrian artist Manaf Halbouni that creates a link between the Museum ERLAUF ERINNERT and its surroundings. At the center of the installation are two sculptures cast in concrete and a wall relief. One sculpture spells the Arabic word for 'Oppression', while the relief poses the question “Do you want freedom." The artist is thereby referring to the demonstrations at the beginning of the civil war in Syria, when the police asked demonstrators this rhetorical question while beating them. “For me, concrete represents not only strength and power, but also resistance against everything. It even has a martial and destructive force that goes hand-in-hand with a certain lack of empathy and austerity,” says Manaf Halbouni. Another concrete sculpture Heller Stern (Bright Star) is located outside the museum, where stands next to the monuments by the American Jenny Holzer and the Russian Oleg Komov that both commemorate the end of World War II. Halbouni created this cube out of concrete poured over compacted car parts as a way of referring to the ongoing wars today and the ruins they leave behind, as well as the hope that people will be able to rebuild things again. The star embedded in the sculpture is a play both on its role as an important formal element in Oriental architecture as well as its symbolic meaning in different cultures and across borders.
The artist’s interventions in the museum display cases also establish a reference to the present. For this part of his project, he placed his passport and excerpts from his correspondence with the German military, who rejected his application to serve, in a display case together with historical documents, while additionally adding the words “the unknown soldier” in Arabic to the names on the chairs in the room used for events.
(Cornelia Offergeld)
exhibition period: May, 7th to October, 30th 2016
Museum der Friedensgemeinde Erlauf (Erlauf Remembers. Museum of Erlauf, Community of Peace) at:
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