Calligraphie, 1989—2011
Hans Haacke
Calligraphie, 1989—2011
Photographs and text
Installation view
©Hans Haacke/VG Bild-Kunst
Image courtesy of the Artist
Overview
In 1989, Hans Haacke was invited to participate in a competition for a work celebrating the bicentennial of the Assemblée Nationale (the lower house of the French parliament). However his proposal Calligraphie was not selected. Had it been, the motto of the French Republic, Freedom, Equality, Fraternity, would have appeared in Arabic calligraphy on a cone made of rocks from the country’s election districts. Water emanating from the cone would have flowed around a field of ordinary French crops.
'Today, as it was in 1989, Freedom, Equality, Fraternity are not extended to all residents of France - nor to those of other nations that include these principles in their constitutions - particularly not to their Muslim population. In many societies it is dangerous to invoke them' - Hans Haacke.
April 2011
This project was part of Sharjah Biennial 10
Artwork Images
Calligraphie
Hans Haacke
1989—2011
Photographs and text
Detail view
Reproductions ©Hans Haacke/VG Bild-Kunst
Photo by Alfredo Rubio
Calligraphie
Hans Haacke
1989—2011
Photographs and text
Dimensions variable
Installation view
Reproductions ©Hans Haacke/VG Bild-Kunst
Photo by Amina Khansaheb
Calligraphie
Hans Haacke
1989—2011
Photographs and text
Installation view
Reproductions ©Hans Haacke/VG Bild-Kunst
Photo by Amina Khansaheb
Calligraphie
Hans Haacke
1989—2011
Photographs and text
Reproductions ©Hans Haacke/VG Bild-Kunst
Image courtesy of the Artist
Related
Haacke, Hans
Hans Haacke lives in New York since 1965. He taught at Cooper Union, New York from 1967 to 2002.
Sharjah Biennial 10: Plot for a Biennial
Accompanying and complementing the main premise of Sharjah Biennial 10, Plot for a Biennial explores the concept of a ‘conversation’ through printed matter.