Daniel Spoerri
The Mass Grave of the Clones
The Mass Grave of the Clones
2000
bronze, brick wall
Right on the edge of the »Giardino« five bronze cast, lifesize mannequin in distorted positions in a ditch lined with a brick wall. Beside it lies a pile of earth, which seems to indicate that the gravesite will soon be covered over. The scene is familiar to us: whether concentration camps, scenes from Vietnam, Yugoslavia or Iraq. Whenever humans destroy other humans, they bury their victims, like dogs bury their gnawed bones. I call these bodies clones because they are copies, one hardly distinguishable from the other. Twisted like fallen marionettes, they almost appear beautiful, despite the dreadful association with a mass grave. Over and over again, the »Giardino« shows us dark sides, for without these there could be no beauty.
D.S.