Hans Blix’s glasses - A memorial to the Iraq war

By Nis Rømer

In “Hans Blix’s Glasses - A memorial to the Iraq war” a part of the Danish National Gallery will be somewhat domesticated. A carpet, a table and chairs suggest a homely setting rather than the public space of the museum.

On closer inspection the carpet and its virtual counterpart in Second Life tells a story of the Iraq war. The carpet draws on the tradition in the middle east of rugs sometimes ornamental sometimes telling stories. Information on the declaration of war as well as the recent exit of the Danish Military force are embedded in the carpet and are mixed with central elements, like Colin Powell’s presentation in UN and the role of Hans Blix in the conflict. All is seen trough the perspective of the individual and in this way, the overall story is told as an intersection between the individual experience or contribution with that of international politics.

The domestic setting makes the backdrop for a series of chess games between the artist and Iraqis and Kurds from Iraq living in Denmark. The game of chess, like carpets originates in Persia. The chess games and conversations happening aside them will be documented and once again discuss the intersection of the personal and the international politics of war. Chess is also a symbolic battle taking place but within a cultural sphere, a re-enactment and exchange. The elements in the show have the trait of transformation and cultural mixing between the east and the west.

The exhibition aims a making an informal public sphere for discussing a possible memorial to the Iraq war. Is it possible to maintain reflexivity and criticality in the face of an ongoing conflict? Is it possible to make spaces within the democratic state for these things to happen. Can the National Gallery be a critical public space? How can we imagine a memorial to one of the most important and disputed events in recent Danish history?

Towards the end of his career, Marcel Duchamp the father of conceptual art, withdrew from the art world to concentrate fully on playing chess. Stating that “It cannot be commercialized. Chess is much purer than art in its social position.” It might be so, but the work at hand also seem to wonder if such a withdrawal is a option for the artist today facing a state of emergency.