Victor Kégli

unrealized Project for the Symposium de Sculpture / Luxembourg´95

Performance

warplain, bombe, militaryband, shovel

1995

KULTURSTADT EUROPA - BOMB DE BUSCH (1995)

The story of this unrealized performance action is spectacular, and so preposterous that we may regard the documentation, even the telling of it alone, of the planning and failure of the work, as an independent work of art: it is a kind of letter correspondence performance that displays features of realistic satire. In 1995, the year that Luxembourg City bore the title of European Capital of Culture, Victor Kégli received an invitation to take part in the accompanying sculpture symposium.

The plan was born to drop a bomb from a German warplane on the sculpture grounds on Gallows Hill (Galgenberg), near Esch sur Alzette, not far from the capital. Kégli’s work as a “sculptor” was to consist of filling the crater caused by the dropping of the bomb again during the two-month symposium. Since the artist did not wish to leave behind a lasting work, the destructive act of the bomb’s impact was, so to speak, the beginning of a performance and the reason for the work done to neutralize the damage, which is to be understood here as a kind of negative work, as an anti-sculpture. At the same time, this spectacular action was supposed to launch the sculptors’ symposium.

Victor Kégli often seeks out historical or contemporary references, placing his projects in the field of tension created by them. He brings the project European Culture City into a connection with the War in Bosnia. Shortly beforehand, the landmark of the city of Mostar and part of the world cultural heritage, the nearly 500-year-old bridge across the Neretva River, had been blown up by Croatian troops. It was an irreplaceable loss for European culture, since the landmark for the Herzegovinian city, built under the Ottoman ruler Suleiman, was regarded as a connecting link between the Orient and the Occident, as a symbol for the peaceful coexistence of different cultures in Europe. The fact is that a single bomb can destroy in one blow what human culture had taken centuries to produce, and this as the world looks on. This had happened not far from us, where Europe celebrates its culture instead of mourning its loss. And therefore, the suspicion arises that Europe only pretends to place such great value on this culture, whereas in reality, it views culture as mere decoration and dispensable accoutrement. Precisely this is what Victor Kégli wanted to call attention to with his startling art actions.

At first, the prospects seemed favorable for the project. The Luxemburg festival directors were enthused. The day chosen for Kégli to drop the bomb was August 6, the anniversary of America’s dropping the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. The whole thing was to take place as follows: At the square before the National Monument in the Luxembourg Capital, a military band performs. The German combat plane flies over the ceremony, heading for the place where it will drop the bomb, Gallows Hill in Esch, outside the city. The actual impact is broadcast live on a large video screen for those attending the ceremony.

The realization of this idea posed a tough struggle to convince the ministries that were responsible on the side of the Germans. The written replies from the Bonn Foreign Ministry and the Ministry of Defense to Victor Kégli’s request for a combat jet plus bomb plus a flyover of Luxembourg territory and dropping the bomb on friendly territory are exceptionally amusing. They amount to letters in the form of shoulder-shrugging and the shaking of heads on the part of the military and diplomats. Kégli always received the same Nyet. On principle, not even for training purposes is the Bundeswehr allowed to drop bombs in Europe, etc. and so forth. The decisive tip for saving the plan came in the form of a telephone call with a high military official: you get a combat plane, and if you put a blaster there who can set off the detonation on the ground the minute the plane flies overhead, no one will notice the difference. Said and done. What seems so unbelievable looks like it may just happen. The big day approaches. In the name of art, the blaster, combat jet, military band, and copious telecasting equipment all get organized. The spectacular event, everyone involved is convinced of this, will hit like a __. And then something unforeseen happens. The Luxembourg Foreign Ministry gets nervous. The diplomats put their heads together in concern. The artist is contacted. The action European Culture City – Bomb de Busch has to be cancelled. Something happened that has considerably changed the international situation: Bombs. More precisely, atomic bombs. Despite massive protests at home and abroad, French Prime Minister Chirac, immediately after his reelection, has just announced the resumption of underground nuclear weapons tests on the south sea atoll of Mururoa. In September 1995, eight atom bombs are detonated in a series of tests. The grand nation of European culture is then heavily criticized by its neighbors and allies, and out of fear of protests, it has temporarily closed its borders, even those to its otherwise close ally in Luxembourg. In such a tense atmosphere, the Luxemburg Foreign Ministry does not consider it appropriate to have a German combat plane show up only a few kilometers from the border to France, looking like it is flying a combat mission. The dream is shattered, all hopes dashed for Victor Kégli’s sensational project.

The artist, one-upped by reality, has no other choice than to resort to the plans he has for his alternative project, a Yano in the Bush, which he had also prepared, just in case, due to the imponderabilities of the bomb-plan, and in order to console himself with thoughts that, once again, he has proven his fine sense for what is essential at a given moment in history.

The work of art that could not come to fruition, whatever it could have been, has almost become a political topic. It had to fail, but beforehand, for a moment it was able to lift the cloak covering a Europe that likes to adorn itself with its culture, though it is pretty ugly under the beautiful façade. (Tanja Schwarz)