a l l a l o n e is a concrete poem in the form of an X by Ian Hamilton Finlay (1925 - 2006).
The Memorial for the Victims of Nazi Military Justice by Olaf Nicolai was erected in Vienna in 2014.
The poem must be viewed by climbing onto the sculpture. A notice warns visitors that there are no handrails and that lying snow will not be cleared away.
It says it all.
ReplyDeleteIt also says it all that it took nearly 70 years for the authorities to get round to erecting a memorial to the anonymous ones, the 'deserters', who refused to be part of the Hitler war machine.
DeleteI'd like to visit IHF's Little Sparta garden. Unfortunately, though, there's no disabled access, so my partner would be stuck!
ReplyDeleteI find IHF's work compelling - even when I don't get it. When that's the case I feel intrigued rather than alienated.
It would have been far better if they had stood the X up vertically. But then it would have been too prominent (see my reply to Rachel). They like it discreet.
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