Dani Karavan Basic Law 49

Along the Spree promenade inserted into the floor of the a wall of nineteen sheets of Paul Löbe Building, which glass, each roughly three reproduce quotations from for example, he used concrete metres tall, both separates an Thomas Mann and Ricarda sculptures, wind harps and exterior court of the Jakob Huch; and with Maurizio trees to create a profoundly Kaiser Building from the Nannucci’s neon installation evocative site amid the vast Spree promenade and estab- in the library rotunda of the expanse of the Negev desert in lishes a link between the two. Marie Elisabeth Lüders Build- Israel. In Germany Karavan’s Laser technology has been ing, which encourages reflec- compelling site-specific works used to engrave the text of the tion on the nature of equality include the Way of Human nineteen fundamental rights and freedom in the form of Rights (1993) outside the enshrined in Germany’s Basic sentences from a text by Germanisches Nationalmuse- Law in the glass at eye-level, Hannah Arendt shown in um in Nuremberg and the so that they seem to hover in luminescent blue letters. installation Ma´alot (1986) in front of the building, which front of the Museum Ludwig houses the offices of parlia- Karavan ranks as one of the in Cologne. For Berlin he mentary parties. In this instal- most important international designed a memorial to the lation, titled Basic Law 49 and artists engaged in redefining Sinti and Roma murdered by relating both physically and the experience offered by the Nazis. Unveiled in Octo- conceptually to the seat of the landscape and urban spaces. ber 2012, it features a black national parliament, Israeli His approach was well suited disc-shaped basin of water in artist Dani Karavan focuses on to the challenged posed by a the centre of which is a stone the notion of the word as law. central site in Berlin’s parlia- on which a fresh flower This ties in with other verbal mentary quarter: his work appears every day. A deeply works of art in nearby parlia- cannot be classified in con- moving place of mourning mentary buildings – with ventional terms as architec- and admonishment, this Jenny Holzer’s LED display in ture or sculpture, environ- memorial to the victims of an the Reichstag Building, which mental or conceptual art, but unconscionable crime also features a continuous succes- combines elements of each gives expression to a hope that sion of speeches made in the in space-encompassing intolerance and hostility German parliament; with Gesamtkunstwerke. In his towards minorities can be Joseph Kosuth’s metal letters well-known Negev Monument, overcome. Dani Karavan, born in Tel Aviv in Dani Karavan 1930, based in Tel Aviv, Paris and Basic Law 49 Florence Basic Law 49, glass panels and strips of corten steel, 1998-2003 Jakob Kaiser Building, exterior courtyard of Block 3 and Spree promenade, Berlin rise from the floor of the courtyard like the funnels of The artist’s chief formal con- a stranded steamship. Their cern in the installation out- positioning, though asymmet- side the Jakob Kaiser Building rical in relation to the build- was to set up a link between ing, underscores the linear the building and the prome- radial composition of the floor nade that would possess a elements. The wide-ranging maximum of transparency. spatial arrangement testifies Hence the choice of glass to the artist’s penchant for panels, rather than railings or crossing aesthetic frontiers, some other kind of fence. The with architecture and the connection between inside urban landscape merging to ignoring the prehistory of and outside is emphasised by form a new aesthetic whole. current political activity in floor elements consisting of Berlin. People walking along strips of grass edged with Karavan’s formal conception the Spree promenade are thus corten steel. These radiate encompasses verbal content reminded of the achievement outwards from the courtyard, essential to his intentions. The of the men and women in the passing beneath the glass Basic Law’s nineteen funda- parliamentary council who panels to the outer edge of the mental rights are inscribed on in the space of a few months, Spree embankment. In addi- the glass panels, one per panel, from September 1948 to May tion, one tree in the row along in the original wording of 1949, drew up a democratic the Spree appears out of line, 1949, and they appear next to constitution that to this day as though it has leapt over the the Spree, which once sepa- embodies the rule of law in glass wall into the courtyard. rated East Berlin from West Germany. At the same time, Stairs leading up to the court- Berlin. In this way, they evoke the 1949 wording on the glass yard from inside the building the difficult period of the panels makes the essence of are crowned by six exterior young German democracy’s the Basic Law and the funda- vent stacks. Karavan has foundation in Bonn, in the mental rights enjoyed by all designed these stacks (which western part of the country, Germans literally transparent are necessary to meet techni- and also warn against taking and gives them visible form in cal requirements) so that they reunification for granted or a new and compelling way. Published by the German Bundestag, Secretariat of the Art Council, Platz der Republik 1, 11011 Berlin, Art at the German Bundestag Germany Written and devised by Andreas Kaernbach, Curator of the Dani Karavan Art Collection of the German Bundestag Translated by Michael Foster in cooperation with the Language Service of the German Bundestag Designed by büro uebele visuelle kommunikation, Stuttgart (Angela Klasar) Printed by MEDIALIS Offsetdruck GmbH, Berlin Photographs by Stephan Erfurt, Berlin, and Jens Liebchen, Berlin Further information: Tel. +49 (0)30-227-32027 or [email protected] www.kunst-im-bundestag.de.

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