Revolution and war
The highly political mural Revolution and War was completed in November 1989 by the artist Shahin Charmi on the facade of a former war bunker, Iltisbunker in Kiel - Gaarden . The artist chose the theme of the work in relation to the 70th anniversary of the sailors 'and workers' uprising , the November revolution in 1918 and the murder of Rosa Luxemburg . With more than 600 m², the mural “Revolution and War” is probably the largest of its kind in Europe.
Revolution and war
“The Kiel Revolution is a shining moment in German history. With this revolution, a progressive spirit began to work in Germany, which - regardless of its political orientation - contributed to new cultural, social and artistic achievements until it was prevented by the rise of National Socialism. The work 'Revolution und Krieg' pays homage to this spirit and the beginning of Germany's democratic development. The work is based on traditional European painting and, through the female body, forms a bridge to the French Revolution and its representation in art. "
Image description
The mural “Revolution and War” is a fragmentary narrative of successive events from November 1918 to the Second World War.
The story begins - in contrast to the conventional reading direction for pictures - on the right side of the picture with the gathering of workers and sailors who marched with red flags from Gaarden to Wilhelmplatz in Kiel.
The workers in the foreground are standing in front of a ship's engine, modeled on how it was built at the Kiel shipyard.
The female nude builds a bridge to the French Revolution and manifests the desire for a free and just society. The dynamic movement of the figure's left hand illustrates the repetitions of this attempted breakaway from authoritarian relationships.
Placed above the act is the portrait of Rosa Luxemburg as a representative of democratic socialism, looking at the betrayal of the revolution by Gustav Noske (SPD, later Reichswehr Minister, responsible for the suppression of the expanding, revolutionary uprising), murder and ongoing militarism . The second act, veiled in black, depicts the emergence of the Weimar Republic and the decline of it through National Socialism . About the fragment of the November pogroms that followed and the establishment of concentration and labor camps, the picture closes with the beginning of the Second World War .
“The work, completed in 1989 by the artist Shahin Charmi on the 70th anniversary of this epochal event, uniquely reflects with its various pictorial elements the determined pursuit of peace, the end of war and democracy. However, in a warning way, it also includes future developments such as fascism , November pogroms, impoverishment and war and is therefore highly topical today. "
Effect and political dispute
There were controversial opinions about the artistic design of the bunker even before its completion. The debates about it went on with great vehemence for over two years. After the art advisory board of the state capital of Schleswig-Holstein decided in favor of the “Revolution and War” draft from four drafts submitted by Shahin Charmi, the parliamentary group leader of the city CDU described it as “socialist realism like in Moscow”. CDU councilor Arno Witt criticized that the picture "is nothing more than the processing of the history of the social democratic party". The CDU's proposed painting of an “idyllic fjord landscape” was rejected by the head of the cultural department, Rolf Johanning.
About half a year after completion, a new debate sparked, "This picture is a mess" said "parliamentary group women" of the Greens and demanded: "The 'naked' should now go away again". They rated the depiction of “two oversized naked and headless female bodies” on the facade of the polecat bunker as “discriminatory and annoying”. In the opinion of the Green Ladies, this representation is comparable to the use of female bodies in advertising and media. Anette Wiese-Krukowska, then advisor for political education at the Ferdinand-Tönnies-Gesellschaft, then defended the picture: "What is missing is a citizens' initiative that wants to ban all nude images from museums or at least cover them with scarves". It went so far that donations were offered for the overpainting. The proposed motif was a "funding landscape idyll".
In the end, the demands for overpainting the mural - both by the CDU parliamentary group leader Dieckelmann and the Green Women's parliamentary group - remained unsuccessful.
The intensive public discussion and discussion process ultimately led to acceptance of the work in political circles and also received a lot of attention and recognition far beyond Kiel and developed into an important reference point for the culture of remembrance and identification with the sailors and workers' uprising. After almost 30 years, all parties have now agreed on the importance of this work.
Video mapping, art action at the polecat bunker
Dialogue between traditional painting (mural “Revolution and War”) and contemporary media art (video projection “No phoenix rises from these ashes”).
On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, the artist Shahin Charmi projected the video work “No phoenix rises from these ashes” onto his mural “Revolution and War” in an art action on May 30, 2015. This work is a formal and substantive bridge over 100 years of history and creates a dialogue between traditional painterly representation and contemporary media art. The projection takes a stand on the numerous wars after 1945 and raises future-related questions, taking into account geostrategic interest politics.
Further development
The attempt, started between 2012 and 2015 between the artist Shahin Charmi and the city of Kiel, to mark the centenary in 2018, a common basis for a restoration or restoration of what the city is responsible for due to neglected care and the effects of the weather Finding a work of art failed. Shahin Charmi withdrew his commitment to restore or renovate the mural in September 2015.
In 2018 the "Citizens' Initiative to Preserve the Bunker Image at the Iltis Bunker" was formed. They appealed to the city of Kiel to preserve the historically significant and striking facade painting “Revolution and War”. In November 2018 the mural was listed as a historical monument.
Web links
- Website Iltisbunker (extensive documentation of the mural "Revolution and War" with images, press reviews and current developments)
- Website of the artist Shahin Charmi
Individual evidence
- ^ Revolution and War. Retrieved May 7, 2019 .
- ↑ Hans-Heinrich Rohwer: Press statement at the press conference of the initiative to preserve the facade painting on the Iltis bunker on August 31, 2018 in the smokehouse, Preetzer Str., Kiel. In: iltisbunker.de. Retrieved May 7, 2019 .
- ↑ Iltisbunker, Press Review 1989, 4. Accessed May 7, 2019 .
- ↑ Michael Foedrowitz: Bunker Worlds. Air raid systems in northern Germany . 1st edition. Christoph Links Verlag, Berlin 1998, ISBN 3-86153-155-0 , p. 183-184 .
- ↑ Iltisbunker, press review 1990, 2
- ↑ Iltisbunker, Press Review 1990, 4. Accessed May 7, 2019 .
- ↑ Green women feel harassed. (PDF; 575 kB) In: Kieler Nachrichten . July 17, 1990, Retrieved May 8, 2019 .
- ↑ Iltis bunker Press, 1990, 8
- ↑ Iltis bunker, video documentation OK RJ 2015
- ^ Revolution and War. Iltis bunker, accessed on May 7, 2019 .
- ↑ Iltis bunker project Info 1
- ↑ List of monuments in Kiel. (PDF; 631 kB) State Office for Monument Preservation Schleswig-Holstein , March 18, 2019, p. 5 , accessed on May 8, 2019 .