Fantasy and reality

The East-West Divan

The Western view of the Orient has always been shaped by ideas about a world in which exotic people lead an unknown, carefree life, in which erotic male fantasies are fulfilled in the harem, in which caravans of strange animals roam through strange landscapes and men with their legs linked tell endless stories. These ideas can still be found in Western depictions of the Orient and continue to shape our image of the magical, promising Orient.

At the same time, there has been a fear for centuries of a foreign cultural, foreign religious threat to the Western world that can only be dealt with by force. The events of September 11 brought these fears to the surface and have since had a major influence on the attitude that the West has taken towards the East.

But the truth is the other way round. Neither the exotic depictions correspond to reality nor the idea that aggressive wars of aggression are a typical cultural feature of this region.

The background of the two-layered work consists of ink drawings on handmade paper, the foreground of glass color depictions on transparent foil.