Posted by “Time, Measure of the world – Fate of the people. The New Doctrine of War: Naval Battles Recur Every 317 Years or in Multiples Thereof, for Velimir Chlebnikov.” Inscription in German. (All at sea, Adrian Searle, The Guardian, 5 July 2005.)
Anselm Kiefer: Für Chlebnikov, White Cube, London, 2005
Introduction
When I started writing this post, I wanted to discuss a work of art featuring a submarine. On the way I expanded the scope to include a big work with many submarines, and a poet. So this is a post about works of art with submarines, created by Ansellm Kiefer, and a Russian “experimental” poet, named Velimir Chlebnikov (in German) or Khlebnikov (in English).
Anselm Kiefer i one of the greatest living artists in my book. In the age of the “digital”, he continues the glorious romantic tradition of German art.
Velimir Khlebnikov
Khlebnikov was a “futurist” Russian poet (1885-1922), who asserted that naval battles are cyclical phenomena and they occur every 317 years. The key word here is “naval battles”, because the topic of this post is the depiction of submarines in Anselm Kiefer’s work.
‘What binds together both Kiefer and Khlebnikov is their interest in history and time. The starting point for Khlebnikov’s research of history basing upon mathematical calculation was the defeat of Russia in the Russian-Japanese war in 1905 in the naval battle by Tsushima. After that he tried to deduce a law of time and calculated, for example, that Russian-Japanese war broke out 317 years later after the Anglo-Spanish war. Kiefer also applies to the theme of time in his work: “he utilizes time as the central metaphor in his work as the basic concept in searches for identity”, mentions Paul Ardenne. If Khlebnikov tried to systemize time, Kiefer, in his turn, works “with the concept that nothing is fixed in place and that symbols move in all directions”.'(Pinchuk Art Centre)
“The central paradox of the entire system, and of the obsessive rigour with which the theory was applied, lies in the non-scientific basis of its inspiration, in the form of an overwhelming desire to control the movement of history. Khlebnikov’s initial motivation was a highly personal response to Russian defeat in the Russo-Japanese War: ‘I wanted to discover the reason for all those deaths.’” (Anselm Kiefer, Jesus College, Cambridge)
Kiefer’s relationship to Khlebnikov is peculiar. Here we have a major artist of the 20th – 21st century,being “inspired” by a futurist who tried to combine poetry with mathematics, and create a theory of History, so that Man will know what is coming his way.
This looks like a puzzle, unless you turn it upsode down. Kiefer is actually denying Khlebnikov.
” Kiefer’s ironic use of Khlebnikov’s predictive models reflects his conviction that history can never be programmed or given a fixed form. Only a few of Kiefer’s ships are overturned or foundering on shoals, but there is an almost uniform sense of futility in the isolation of these vessels amid worsening weather conditions.” (Anselm Kiefer, Jesus College, Cambridge)
Submarines
“The only thing that ever really frightened me during the war was the U Boat peril” – Winston Churchill
In the second world war, the submarine was considered to be the ultimate weapon of destruction at sea.
A submarine in German is U-Boot, a shortening of Unterseeboot, literally “undersea boat” (Wikipedia). Although the word refers to any submarine, it has been linked to German submarines, starting with U1 in 1906.
Kiefer is fascinated by submarines, and he shows it. It may be the critical role they play in naval battles, and/or the dark, claustrophobic aura that makes a submarine so different. In what follows I will show some of the relevant works, starting with the super star, a 17 meter long “installation”, which was first shown in the London 2014 exhibition, and had the super long title “Fates of Nations: The New Theory of War. Time, Dimension of the World, Battles at Sea Occur Every 317 Years or Multiples Thereof, Namely 317 x 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 . . . . . . . .”
Velimir Khlebnikov: Fates of Nations: The New Theory of War…
2004
149 5/8 x 220 1/2 in. (380 x 560 cm)
Oil, emulsion, acrylic on canvas with lead boats
Photo: Stephen White
2004
35 7/16 x 157 1/2 x 98 7/16 in. (90 x 400 x 250 cm)
Concrete sculpture with lead boat
Photo: Stephen White
2004
149 5/8 x 220 1/2 in. (380 x 560 cm)
Oil, emulsion, acrylic on canvas with lead boats
The Ark
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