Death and Contemporary Art

I was recently in Kassel, Germany, to see the art exhibit "documenta 12." This is a once-every-five-years exhibition of contemporary art, and part of the summer art extravaganza in Europe that also includes the Venice Biennale. Some of the art was good, some wasn't - which is the usual experience I seem to have with contemporary art. It has always been the job of the artists to illustrate the stories of the day - all that church art was essentially Bible stories in cartoon for the illiterate. Many artists today still choose to make art that illuminates facets of today's concerns, not so much for the illiterate, but hopefully for the oblivious. Thus, much of the art I saw this summer necessarily speaks to contemporary issues in today's society - war, death, poverty, genocide, human rights violations, government shenanigans, fear and terror. In places it was challenging and exhausting. In terms of writing in depth about it here, I will pass... I'd rather be a bit more upbeat. Also, I think it would end up being a chewy art piece that will appeal to few of you dear friends. I will save the artspeak for the art cronies!

So on the theme of upbeat, welcome to Kassel's Museum for Sepulchral Culture! This is one of seven museums in Europe that specifically deal with death and its customs. As many of you know, I make a lot of art that plays in the realm of euphemisms - the words we create in order not to say certain words. "Death" is one of those words. In many cultures, to speak of death is to invite it in. Thus we say that a loved one has "passed." In the south, they are "just away." And at the Flying Circus, they are, of course, "pushing up the daisies."

And so here is a museum dedicated to the aspects of this unmentionable thing. It has permanent exhibition space dealing with death, judgement, hell and paradise. Most of the objects are from German speaking cultures, and include a healthy collection of unusual headstones. There are horse drawn hearses, painted skulls, reliquaries, coffins, costumes, and an extensive collection of prints, etchings and books. There was even death related graffiti outside the museum. I found one set of objects very interesting - a series of figurines of Death talking to various characters. The concept of "Death and the Maiden" appears often in art, but I had no idea that there seems to be a much longer poem whereby Death converses with many other characters, from the King to the Painter. I will be researching this further when I get back to a faster internet connection (my folks, bless 'em, can only get dial up out here in the French countryside).