Landmines

Sculpture, Lübeck, Germany, 1998

“In Lübeck Thorsteinsson planted a number of markers in flowerbeds around the city, similar to the ones used to mark plants in botanical gardens. The inscription read “Landmine, Bomba terrae” and had as the place of origin one of the thirty-eight countries that currently produce landmines. Once again the work may be read on two levels. On the one hand it reminds passers-by of the horror of landmines, but it also raises the question whether, in view of the sheer number of landmines buried around the world, we should not start to consider them a part of our natural habitat and classify and mark them as we would any other plant or geological formation. If we recoil at the suggestion then we must at least be prepared to find arguments to justify our reaction and some course of action to rectify the situation.”

text by Jon Proppe