Obelisk (Olu Oguibe)

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The obelisk on the Kassel Königsplatz

The obelisk is a memorial designed for documenta 14 by the Nigerian - American artist Olu Oguibe . In June 2017 it was set up at Kassel Königsplatz ; since April 2019 the obelisk has been in stairs street . The 16.20 m high monument with the title The Foreigners and Refugees Monument bears the inscription in the four languages ​​most commonly spoken in Kassel, Arabic , German , English and Turkish : “I was a foreigner and you took me in”, a quote the Gospel of Matthew ( Mt 25,35c  ELB ).

Interpretation of the work of art and the place of installation

While Oguibe's work at documenta 14 in Athens consists of an archive on the human tragedy of the Biafra War , his work in Kassel relates to the affirmation of timeless, universal principles of care and concern for those affected by flight and persecution .

The quote comes from the so-called " Last Judgment Speech " (Mt 25: 31-46), the end of the great eschatological speech that Jesus Christ gave on the Mount of Olives near Jerusalem according to the Gospel of Matthew . The key to understanding the sentence is the following statement from the mouth of Jesus: “What you did for one of the least of my brothers and sisters, you did it for me” (Mt 25:40). With the quotation from the Bible, Oguibe particularly wants to call on the evangelical Christians of the United States , who are vigorously opposed to the admission of refugees, not to close the borders to refugees. For him this is a universal humanitarian message.

One topic at documenta 14 was how to deal with historical places in Kassel. A relief at Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe train station was originally planned as an exterior work of art by Oguibe . At the suggestion of Adam Szymczyk , the Kassel Königsplatz was chosen as the installation site for the obelisk: the square was designed by the court builder Simon Louis du Ry (1726–1799), who came from a Huguenot refugee family. In addition, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was denied access to a hostel on Königsplatz in 1792 because he was mistaken for a Frenchman who wanted to spread the ideas of the French Revolution .

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Olu Oguibe on his work of art

“The obelisk is a timeless shape, a shape that comes from ancient times, originally it came from Africa. You traveled around the world. We use them in this context to project a universal, timeless principle into the future: the idea of ​​mercy and hospitality towards strangers. But also gratitude to hosts. Because I believe that mercy and hospitality ultimately need reciprocity. (...) I think it is important to note that there are costs to hosts. Kindness is not for free.

I am more interested in the positive history of the city, a city where strangers, visitors, people from different parts of the world have found a home. We want to acknowledge that. Opening one's door to a stranger is an act of trust. All of this is woven into the text chosen for the inscription. It affirms the need for hospitality, it affirms the need for reciprocity, the recognition that charity is an act of trust.

When such strangers come into a community, they also bring something with them. They bring skills, they bring diversity, culture, they bring cuisine. In this way they expand the community, they enrich the community, (...) they enrich the human experience.

For me the goal is to leave a space for reflection, for contemplation, maybe even for debate on the questions of hospitality and gratitude. "

- Olu Oguibe, an extract from a video translation

Recording of the work of art

The city of Kassel awarded Olu Oguibe the Arnold Bode Prize for his work . It was one of the documenta works of art whose possible purchase and remaining in the city had been discussed since the beginning of the art exhibition.

The obelisk was initially well received by many citizens, while others rejected it for aesthetic or political reasons. The controversy in Kassel intensified and grew into a climate of hostility towards the artist. The AfD city ​​councilor Thomas Materner called the obelisk in 2017 in the city's cultural committee "ideological and disfiguring art". The following year he threatened rallies should Oguibe come to Kassel. Supporters of the memorial, including the former Lord Mayor of Kassel Hans Eichel , also demonstrated in the summer of 2018 for the Oguibe obelisk to remain in the city.

For a long time it was unclear whether the obelisk would remain in Kassel. In order to be able to buy the work of art, the head of the cultural department of Kassel, Susanne Völker, called for a fundraising campaign in February 2018 that raised € 126,000 in donations. The artist agreed to the sum, although it was significantly lower than the million originally in the room or the 600,000 euros targeted after the end of the documenta .

The obelisk shortly after the reconstruction in stairs street

The whereabouts of the obelisk became a political issue in Kassel's town hall, as a majority of city councilors rejected the location on Königsplatz, which the artist requested. In further negotiations with Oguibe, an agreement emerged at times. The idea was brought up to move the obelisk to a new location, for example in front of a Documenta Institute that was still to be built. Since the city insisted on its decision not to leave the monument on Königsplatz, but the artist continued to insist that the work of art had been created especially for this square, the city of Kassel removed the memorial in the early morning of October 3, 2018 after it had expired the contractual loan period in an unannounced action without the knowledge of the Head of Culture from Königsplatz and stored it in a building yard. The action, for which Kassel Mayor Christian Geselle ( SPD ) was responsible, for which he was partly sharply criticized and partly extolled, was seen by supporters on both sides as a success of the AfD.

Contrary to his previous attitude, Oguibe then agreed to the relocation of the obelisk to the new location proposed by the city, according to his own statements, in order to preserve the work of art for Kassel. On October 11, 2018, the city of Kassel announced that the obelisk in stairs street would be rebuilt and should remain there permanently. The work of art was displayed there on April 18, 2019.

Coordinates: 51 ° 18 ′ 57.6 ″  N , 9 ° 29 ′ 53 ″  E

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Website of Olu Oguibe (documenta14.de).
  2. ↑ M. Kittner: 2017 Arnold Bode Prize goes to Olu Oguibe . In: Nordhessen Rundschau , July 4, 2017, accessed on October 5, 2018.
  3. ^ Eberhard Schockenhoff : The Sermon on the Mount. Call to Christianity. Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 2014, ISBN 978-3-451-34178-6 , p. 9.
  4. ^ Documenta 14 Kassel - artists and works of art . In: documenta . ( documenta-kassel.com [accessed November 12, 2017]).
  5. ↑ documenta 14 artist Olu Oguibe and The Obelisk , artort.tv, September 1, 2017 (YouTube) (in English)
  6. ↑ 2017 Arnold Bode Prize goes to Olu Oguibe . Press release of the City of Kassel, September 11, 2017, accessed on October 4, 2018
  7. ↑ CDU congratulates Olu Oguibe on the Arnold Bode Prize 2017. Press release of the CDU parliamentary group in the Kassel town hall, June 21, 2017, accessed on October 6, 2018.
  8. ^ Saskia Trebing: Open hostility. In: Monopol , May 30, 2018, accessed October 6, 2018.
  9. ↑ Dispute instead of donations: Little enthusiasm for buying obelisks in Kassel . In: Hessenschau , March 5, 2018, accessed on October 4, 2018.
  10. ↑ Andreas Hermann: AfD wants to demonstrate against the obelisk when visiting Oguibe. In: HNA , July 31, 2018, accessed October 4, 2018.
  11. ^ A b Ludger Fittkau : Not worthy of a documenta city! In: Deutschlandfunk Kultur , October 3, 2018, accessed on October 6, 2018.
  12. ↑ Head of the Department of Culture promotes the whereabouts of the documenta obelisk in Kassel . In: HNA , February 15, 2018, accessed October 4, 2018.
  13. ↑ Christian Saehrendt : Morality and business acumen go well. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung , February 28, 2018, accessed on August 13, 2018.
  14. ↑ Kassel wants the obelisk - on one condition . In: Hessenschau , June 18, 2018, accessed October 4, 2018
  15. ^ Obelisk in Kassel: artists and city are looking for a solution - ultimatum burst. In: HNA , June 30, 2018, accessed October 4, 2018.
  16. ↑ Dispute over the location: Kassel removes the “memorial for refugees” in a night and fog campaign. In: Die Welt , October 4, 2018, accessed on the same day.
  17. ↑ Obelisk was dismantled. In: Nordhessen Rundschau , October 4, 2018, accessed on October 5, 2018 (statement from the perspective of the City of Kassel).
  18. ↑ a b Sensation: Obelisk will stay in Kassel after all. In: HNA. October 11, 2018, accessed January 31, 2020 .
  19. ^ Obelisk in Kassel: documenta artwork built in the city center. In: hna.de. April 18, 2019, accessed April 18, 2019 .