santiago sierra
house in mud
Text by Hilke Wagner (excerpt)
Shortly after his first visit to Hannover, it was clear for Santiago Sierra (born in 1966 in Madrid, since 1996 a resident of Mexico City) that the point of departure for his installation in the kestnergesellschaft would be the history of the creation of the Maschsee. In this derivation – the mud of the Maschsee was supposed to be brought into the kestnergesellschaft – Santiago Sierra makes reference to a theme which has occupied him in his actions and installations since the middle of the 1990s: the question as to the meaning of work as an instrument of domination. […]
Now Santiago Sierra is bringing the mud of the Maschsee into the kestnergesellschaft, even if only in a symbolic manner, for the sediment of the Maschsee itself proved to be too problematic, in terms of hygienic and bacteriological considerations, for exposing visitors and employees to this material day in and day out during the course of the exhibition. Sierra’s project is not concerned with National Socialism, as the artist emphasized at the beginning of the project. His interest is focused much more upon a particular concept of work and the use of work as an instrument of political domination. From Sierra’s perspective all this represents themes which possess a timeless relevance and which simply took on an extreme, even paradoxical form during National Socialism […]
Haus im Schlamm requires, because of its concrete historical frame of reference, an explication which transcends a simple documentation of the installation and its interpretation. For this reason, the present catalogue contains articles by authors who are “foreign to art,” who from the perspective of their respective disciplines observe and comment upon the building of the Maschsee and, as a superordinate theme, analyze ”work” as an instrument of domination. For in accordance with Sierra’s express wish this publication – in this sense an essential component of the project - should fulfill, alongside its role as documentation, the purpose of being a historical-sociological reader.