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Curator's Statement
Introduction
Last and Universal: the Semantics of Judgment
Thought Through Images
Seduced by Freedom of Thought
Art in the Age of Short-Term Memory
A Call to Artists and Audience
Seventeen Modern Tales
An artist must have
something to say: his task is not to dominate form, but rather to adapt form
to content.
Wassily Kandinsky
Introduction
The Last Judgment is one of the most powerful and captivating myths of the
western world. It is an incredibly visionary story, a touchstone, a collective
memory of many generations. Through the centuries it has inspired artists’
imaginations, compelling them to convey to the faithful the Christian conception
of the meaning of man’s life and death, his goals, and his destiny.
Last and
Universal: the Semantics of Judgment
The inescapable moment will arrive to mark the end
of history and the beginning of eternity: in English we call this moment the
Last Judgment. “Last” introduces the idea of a countdown, urgently
alerting the faithful to the looming moral deadline. Your emotional response
will be intense if you consider that life actually is a countdown.
The idea of a last judgment evokes universality: this ending will occur for
everyone, and at the same time. The Italian term, Giudizio Universale, emphasizes
the Last Judgment as universal. The adjective majestically frames a vision
of the multitudes teeming over the immense surface of the Earth, awakened
and summoned to appear before the Supreme Judge.
Universality is suggested through space. In a universal judgment, space is
democratic. All will be judged, wherever they may be.
Surprisingly, the German expression for last judgment, Das Jüngste Gericht--
literally, “Judgement Court”--lacks any reference to time and
space. Although the phrase refers idiomatically to the Last Judgment, space
is simply reduced to a room. The two words project us into a space from which
escape is impossible. It is a claustrophobic image, evoking the anxiety of
waiting for the verdict as you sit on an uncomfortable chair in the courtroom.
An unbearable image, heavy as the walls of a fallout shelter, so well depicted
in Kafka’s short novel The Trial.
