In Broad Daylight We Posed, 2020
In kindergarten, I got caught stealing the other children’ snacks. I thought they were much better than mine. Then I tried to steal a tiny toy car from a store, and the local church’s offerings. After some unsuccessful attempts, I understood I wasn’t cut out for it. I also remember watching the news, when they announced Munch’s paintings were stolen. I was angry, such a poor consideration of those important artworks I had only encountered during art history classes. Even if I had only seen them as printed reproductions, it felt like a huge loss. Stolen in broad daylight, they said. Yet the images were there, glaring on the tv screen, globally broadcasted, both close and distant. They got impressed on my retinas. I knew that nothing is permanent but transformation, and that the fidelity of the medium doesn’t really matter, for every experience is unique. Still, the chance to look at the originals within their context, in their specific size, materials and state of conservation, seemed irremediably lost, as much as the consequent transformation or refinement of the way I related to them. Yesterday, the Munch museum in Oslo was snatched from its local community and moved to the waterfront, as a new tourist-catcher landmark. Today the Y-blokka, the government office building damaged by a far-right terrorist attack, is at risk of being torn down. Olga took this picture, where I am posing in front of it with some friends. When I recently saw it, it reminded me of that beautiful day together. Nothing important. Very important! Important enough!
See also:
- In Broad Daylight We Posed, 2020