'Black God’ Digital Collage, 375 x 375 mm, 2023 Fine Art Pigment Print under Acrylic Glass, Black Aluminium Art Box
This is the second picture in the new 'Timeline Pictures' series: 'Black God'. The subject of the Black God has been part of my work since 2021. In autumn 2021, there was an attempt in Bautzen to rebuild a Bismarck monument on the highest mountain in Upper Lusatia, the Czorneboh. The Czorneboh is named after the black god of the Slavs (Upper Sorbian: Čorno Bóh).
The actual meaning in Sorbian mythology is scientifically disputed and was given a new meaning in the 19th century in the form of a re-romanticization, as pagan cult sites may have existed on the mountain.
The appearance of a god (idolatry) is always difficult. But I found it very charming to establish Lew Kerbel's Karl Marx Monument in Chemnitz as a counterpart to the new-right Bismarck cult. Especially since the Chemnitz monument itself can be considered a very impressive atheist idolatry. The Black God images that I created in 2021 are more likely to be understood as quotes and humorous comments.
Integrating Karl Marx as a figure into the Neue Sorbische Kunst canon is long overdue because, as a misunderstood superfigure of the international left, he fits perfectly into the ranks of tragic heroes such as Ernst Thälman, Herman Potočnik, Maria Grollmuss, Alfons Bauer, etc.
The present image in the layout of the timeline images is an attempt to integrate the Black God into the canon of early Neue Sorbische Kunst. Socialist agitation and propaganda liked to appear avant-garde - but in the GDR it is more petty bourgeois and small-minded party folklore with the absent context of modernity. In the spirit of over-identification inherent in NSK, I use these set pieces that can be recombined as desired.
