Dear History: On identity, Art & Possible Futures by Tamara Stanislaw

COLLECTIVE GUILT

DEAR On Identity, Art & Possible Futures

HISTORY

Tamara Stanislaw

DEAR HISTORY

DEAR HISTORY On Identity, Art & Possible Futures

Tamara Stanislaw

CONTENT PREFACE INTRODUCTION COLLECTIVE GUILT

7 11 17 19

Collective Guilt and the Holocaust

White Guilt and Colonialism

NATIONAL IDENTITY

27 29

The Austrian

The European

ART & POSSIBLE FUTURES

53 58 61

Art and National Identity Throughout History

Art and National Identity Today

Ethnicity and Equality in the contemporary art world

The Contemporary Artist and their role in Inclusiveness

CONCLUSION BIBLIOGRAPHY / CREDITS COLOPHON

PREFACE

Sitting at a bar, I started talking to a middle-aged man, who had already had a glass or two. He recognised I have an accent, and asked me where I am from. I told him, without any hesitation, that I am from Austria. Apparently, he paid attention in history class, because he answered: “Ah! The country of Hitler!” And so our conversation ended. A few weeks later, I was enjoying myself at a classmate’s house party. A lot of familiar faces, in-between some new ones, whom I was excited to meet. Chatting about The Hague, talking about school and again the question, where I come from. And again, an answer which felt like a slap in my face: “Hitler was also from Austria!” And of course, strangers and friends, who approach me directly, posing ‘The Question’ with an expectant, almost excited looks on their faces: “Do you actually feel ashamed about what happened in your country?”

INTRODUCTION

Being European, I am worried about Europe. She stumbles from one dilemma to the next; Anders Breivik killed a group of young people on an island in Norway, under the administration of Donald Trump, white supremacists and neo-Nazis gain more power and influence. isis tries to claim control over Europe by recruiting young Muslims, who mostly grew up in former colonising countries, like France and Belgium. Leaders of right-wing parties are celebrated like pop-stars and politicians pride themselves on successfully closing multiple refugee routes to Europe. These developments are not a sudden occurrence of the 21st century; they are the result of a wrong and insufficient way of accounting for the past by Western society. Guilt and refusal to re-appraise co-exist. Being Austrian, I am accounting for history. Since I have moved to the Netherlands, I have been confronted even more with the Austrian past and identity. Dutch people remind me of the National Socialist period regularly. My inability to react appropriately led me to an important realisation: despite the passage of more than 70 years, I feel guilty. I am part of a feeling of collective guilt, since I am inextricably linked to my nation. The collective guilt of Germany and Austria did not inspire critical reflection of other Western countriesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; colonial past, nor did it inspire questioning of recent European norms. Being an artist, I wonder how art contributes to political developments. I have always been certain that art can have

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a bigger meaning than only being decorative, or visually pleasing. Throughout history, artists have played a significant role in defining national identity and thereby contributing to the evolvement of nationalism. Contemporary artists, including myself, are keen on evoking discussion with their works through the rendering of social and political problems. I, too, do so, and see this perception of art as positive. Yet, I believe that art currently does not exploit its full potential, which may lead to several social problems and blocked progression. Art represents society, but often does not offer solutions for the future. Putting these aspects â&#x20AC;&#x201D; recent political problems, guilt and art â&#x20AC;&#x201D; together, leads to the bigger question: How do history and art shape European national identities, and thereby our progression towards inclusiveness? Germany and Austria certainly feel guilty about their ancestors deeds, but we and the rest of the world clearly did not learn as much as possible from it, and despite this guilt, it did not inspire former colonising powers to look critically at their past. Up until now, they did not have to, as the Western world, including Europe, has established itself as the ultimate innocence, which forces others (especially the Eastern and Southern countries) to adjust themselves to their standards and values. European art and culture are celebrated and praised, while other cultures still need to prove themselves. White, Christian Europe has become the touchstone for everything, (El-Tayeb 2016) especially in the art world. The Western population cocoons itself in the notion of never having done anything harmful and if so, having already made up for it. Recent social and political dilemmas could be traced back to a wrong way of accounting for the past, which was focused on feeling guilty rather than on taking responsibility. Art plays a significant role in recent developments and the discussion of them. Throughout history artists have often taken an active role in the process of defining national identity by applying certain techniques and strategies. Contemporary art can still have this influence, yet contemporary artists are often not aware of it, which is problematic, since properly accounting for the past involves the need to redefine national identities. Although art might have

INTRODUCTION

enhanced the development of nationalistic thinking through history, it is time for contemporary artists to shape Europe by using those same methods to give minorities not only space, but also a chance to be considered European. Contemporary art can alter Western national identities towards a model of inclusiveness and encourage the transition from guilt to responsibility.

COLLECTIVE GUILT

COLLECTIVE GUILT & THE HOLOCAUST

COLLECTIVE GUILT AND THE HOLOCAUST

The term collective guilt, or German collective guilt, was first introduced and used by Swiss philosopher Karl Jaspers as Kollektivschuld. In his book Die Schuldfrage (The question of German guilt) Karl Jaspers poses the question, whether only active members of the nsdap are to be blamed for the crimes against humanity and the beginning of the Second World War, or if the whole German nation is. (Jaspers 1987) Jaspers made the distinction between four types of guilt: Criminal guilt, Political guilt, Moral guilt and Metaphysical guilt. One could say that all four types of guilt are applicable when thinking about World War II and the Shoah.1 Criminal guilt has been judged during trials, such as the Nuremberg trials,2 by the victorious powers, such as Great Britain, the us, France and the udssr. Whether one can be found politically guilty or not is not up for discussion; every German and every Austrian has a political responsibility. It is everyoneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s duty to makeup, or at least try to, for the crimes committed in the name of your nationality. Moral guilt leads to the question: When do we become a perpetrator? An interesting character to look at, in terms of acceptance and the definition of a perpetrator, is Oskar Schindler. (Schindlerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s List 1993) Oskar Schindler was as German businessman and a member of the nsdap, who knew about the bad conditions in the

1 Shoah is the Hebrew word for genocide.

The Nuremberg trials consisted of a series of 13 trials, finding many Nazi military officers, lawyers, doctors, etc. guilty on such charges as crimes against peace and crimes against humanity.

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The Sissi trilogy depicts the life story of the beloved Austrian empress Elisabeth, also called Sissi. They are still being shown on TV nowadays and I used to watch them too, when I was little. The films represent the monarchy in a very delightful and pleasant way, which gives one the impression that it is the only policy under which we can be happy. Besides being tremendously sexist and racist, these films transmit one clear message: everything used to be better in the good old days.

Adolf Eichmann was a nsdap member and was responsible for organising the transport of Jews to the concentration camps, where they were to be murdered. He managed to flee to South America, but was caught and brought to trial in Jerusalem and sentenced to death. (Arendt 1963)

The Waldheim-affair was an international debate on the contribution to the ns regime by Kurt Waldheim, an Austrian politician. Only afterwards Austria started to talk publicly about its national socialist history.

concentrations camps and therefore saved around 300 Jews by having them working in his factory. Together with his wife, he later saved around 1200 Jews from the death in camp Auschwitz by buying them and having them work for him. By being in close contact with other Nazis, sometimes even cultivating a friendship with them, Schindler gained a lot of influence, which provided him with the power to interfere with the gasifications. One could say that purely the possession of a membership of the nsdap made one perpetrator. On the other hand, sticking to this view becomes very difficult when looking at the case of Oskar Schindler. They way Germany and Austria dealt with their Nazi past, has changed throughout the century. Immediately after the war, it was difficult for Germans to fully accept their role of the perpetrator and the crimes of the Holocaust. The country had been split in two, occupied, and the government was more keen on providing the impression of the schöne, heile Welt (beautiful, nice world) than having citizens confront their past. This attitude can be recognised through the movies made during the 1950s, which mostly depict cheesy love stories and are staged in a time before the war. One good example is the Sissi trilogy.3 The western part of Germany, occupied by the allies, made no effort to introduce a confrontation with the Holocaust at first. Their only action was the beginning of payments to the State of Israel, but they were keen on avoiding any emotional processing. Only in the 1960s did this attitude change. Probably influenced by the Eichmann trial4 in Jerusalem, many young Germans felt encouraged to confront their past. A new student movement came up, which revealed its frustration, shame and anger about their ancestors’ deeds during many demonstrations. The American miniseries Holocaust by nbc evoked the attention of almost all Germans. Austria hid itself behind the victim-theory and claimed to be Hitler’s first victim. This attitude changed only in the 1980s, affected by the Waldheim affair,5 which attracted international attention. As Austria came to admit that the Anschluss (Austria’s joining of the Third Reich) was for most of the Austrians regarded as a happy occasion, a critical confrontation of the past started.

WHITE GUILT & COLONIALISM

WHITE GUILT AND COLONIALISM

White guilt refers to countries and states, which suppressed and enslaved other countries and its people, for example, the United States, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Spain and Portugal, as well as many others. It describes a feeling of guilt about the history of slavery and has an impact on racial matters and racism nowadays. Though, the exertion and the presence of white guilt are almost non-existent. White guilt has never been criminally convicted at a trial, since slavery was and is simply seen as a development of history. Many countries also make use of the excuse that slavery was a crime not committed by just one country, but by several. There is no room for common responsibility, which can be clearly perceived by observing racism in in ex-colonising powers. This lack of enlightenment about the history of colonising is observable in the Netherlands. Dutch people, when asked about their associations with the Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie and the West-Indische Compagnie, shortly called voc and wic,6 state that it was and still is the big pride of the nation. What is rather unknown to the broad society is the important role of slavery during the Golden Age. The contrary is the case: Each year in December the Netherlands celebrate Sinterklaas (St Nicholas), who is accompanied by Zwarte Piet (Black Pete). Zwarte Piet is usually performed by white people, who colour their faces black,7 put on an afro-wig and wear a typical slave-outfit, whereas Sinterklaas remains white. Sinterklaas does not only have one Zwarte Piet, he has a lot of them, who escort him on his boat from Spain. These helpers are mostly presented as a very childish, silly, uneducated and boorish person. A saying about Zwarte Piet “Al ben ik zwart als roet, ik meen het wel goed” (“Even though I’m black as soot, I mean only good”) implicates a prejudice: The black person has to prove beforehand that he has only good intentions, before he is to be trusted. A couple of years ago, protests against this stereotyping and slavery-glorifying character started, claiming that Zwarte Piet is racism. These uproars

voc

is the Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie (United Eastern-India Company), wic is the West-Indische Compagnie (Western-Indian Company). Both were trading companies, which had the intention to discover new countries, claim them and make money out of them, shortly said, to colonise them. Together with their colonies, the Netherlands formed the Republic of Seven United Netherlands (Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden).

The act of white people colouring their faces black, is called blackface and has been practiced in several countries, including the us. Though, in contrast to the Netherlands, in most countries where it was practiced, it is now widely regarded as a racist custom and disdained.

DEAR HISTORY

The caricom represents all 15 Caribbean nations. (El-Tayeb 2016)

have been defeated by the weak excuse That’s our tradition, there is nothing racist about it! Mostly black people repeatedly stated that they feel offended and hurt by Zwarte Piet, but their voices do not find echo in the minds of Dutch people. Moreover, a reversing of roles is taking place: Dutch people feel insulted by being called racist and swap thereby the role of the victim. (Bergman 2014) Even more difficult for most people to recognise is the fact, that colonisation even without slavery involved is a form of terrorism. At the end of colonisation, many colonised areas have been left in terrible states, economically as well as socially. In 2013 the caricom8 nations sued multiple countries for reparations on genocide, slavery and colonisation, focusing on the “living legacy of these crimes”, such as: “public health (the Caribbean people have the most cases of diabetes and high blood pressure worldwide, both partly caused by chronic stress), lack of education (at the end of colonisation more than 70 per cent of the Caribbean people were illiterate), cultural institutions (while European museums explain colonisation to the Western society, there is no such institution, which represents the perspective of the victim)”

— One example is the exhibition Goede Hoop. The Netherlands and South Africa from 1600 on at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, which was on show during spring 2017. The show had been widely criticised by South African people for only showing the Dutch perspective and not taking a clear stance on slavery and the brutal role of the Netherlands as the colonising power. The overall message of the exposition was very ambivalent saying something like: “Yes slavery was bad, but look at the nice streets we have built there!” Shockingly, the Rijksmuseum had also been criticised by many Dutch people, for not showing enough pride for the history of the country. — “de-culturalisation (culture and language had been systematically robbed from African slaves), psychological trauma (for over more than four centuries Africans have not been regarded as fully human) and backwardness in science and technology (the Caribbean had only been used as raw material suppliers, where no industrial infrastructure could have been developed).” (El-Tayeb 2016, p 64, own translation)

WHITE GUILT & COLONIALISM

The in-subsistence of White Guilt leaves the question, why collective guilt is a phenomenon only experienced in a few countries, when way more countries have committed terrible crimes in the past. In her essay “History and Guilt”, Susan Neiman provides a possible answer to this question. According to her, the Holocaust and its prominence in almost every culture, “serves a crucial function: we know what evil is, and we know the Germans did it.” (Neiman 2013) The Dutch artist Anna Dasovic portrayed with her work And He Knew That Someone Who Had Witnessed These Things Might Be Too Stunned to Speak how politicians nowadays refer to the Holocaust if they intend to give an example of inexplicable violence and use it to speak to our conscience. The installation consisted of a projection showing footage by an American film team, which had been given the task to make the most detailed war movie ever. In this movie we see citizens of Weimar who have been forced by us army to visit the nearby concentration camp Buchenwald. The images of women and men almost breaking down in shock and tears are accompanied by the voice of Barack Obama talking about this footage: “... to show the people what has been done in their name.” Next to the big projection was a smaller one, using an old school video projector, which would repeatedly run the image of a woman running away from Buchenwald. Again the message is clear: The actual evil happened during wwii. The Holocaust, Hitler and the Germans render the pure evil. With this image in our mind, slavery and colonisation become something benign, which we do not have to feel ashamed about. Nazism in Germany provides other nations with the confidence to lean back and not feel any guilt, since the absolute evil happened somewhere else. “But shouldn’t we better use Nazism to start discussions about crimes committed by our ancestors than to end them?” (Neiman 2013) Whether slavery and the Holocaust are actually comparable is of course discussable. What differs slavery from the Holocaust is the economic value a slave had, whereas a Jewish person held no value for a Nazi. Though both meant a classification of a race, and thereby a dehumanisation of a people. With this discourse on the brutality of colonisation and the lack of empathy for its victims, I do not intend to give the impression, that only Germany and Austria have been looking critically at

Image1–2: Anna Dasovic. And He Knew That Someone Who Had Witnessed These Things Might Be Too Stunned to Speak, installation, 2016

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their past. Both Germany and Austria did not manage to acknowledge all the victims the national socialist period has caused. While nowadays anti-Semitism is strictly proscribed by the broad society, racism, no matter if against Roma, Sinti or people of colour, often takes place unpunished. After having had their German or Austrian citizenship evoked by the ns regime, Roma and Sinti never got them back, even when wwii had already ended. Germanyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lack of empathy and will to make amendments towards this victim group is well represented by the discussion on building a memorial for the murdered Roma and Sinti. The rcu (Roma and Cinti Union) has been fighting for one over decades, saying that Roma and Sinti have been degraded and persecuted by Nazis as well and that they would like to have a memorial in order to decently remember this genocide. Only in the 1990s, the rcu made the first achievement, when the municipality agreed on building a memorial. Though they were confronted with a new obstacle: the government insisted on using the word Zigeuner, the German term for gypsy, which the rcu refused as being inappropriate and derogatory. As it was impossible for both parties to agree on a compromise, an independent team decided on using a â&#x20AC;&#x153;chronology of the genocide of Roma and Sintiâ&#x20AC;?, instead of an inscription. With delays in the building process, the memorial was only finished in 2012, almost 70 years after the Second World War had ended. (El-Tayeb 2016) Additionally, there have never been payments to the Roma and Sinti community to make amends for the harm done, the Hamburger police even continued to use the Landfahrerkarteien, which have been established by the Nazis to keep track of Roma and Sinti families. Landfahrerkarteien are files which indicate who is travelling through the country and does not have a registered home, thus the typical image most people have of Roma and Sinti.

NATIONAL IDENTITY

THE AUSTRIAN

THE AUSTRIAN What has always been quite interesting to observe for me is the way how Austrians regard their nation in terms of collective pride and community in comparison to the Netherlands. If we were to regard Kingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Day as the national holiday of the Netherlands and compare it with the Austrian National Day, I can recognise a great gulf between the Dutch appreciation, and the way Austrians look at and celebrate the Austrian National Day. (Usually, most Austrians do not really celebrate this day, they are just happy to get a day off from work or school.) Furthermore, most of the Dutch people hoist up the Dutch flag and very often if children graduate from school the flag will be hung up as well. In Austria, only public institutions hoist the Austrian flag on the Austrian National Day, and each family I know, including mine, does not even own an Austrian flag. To the question of Why do Dutch people have more pride in their nationality than Austrians do?, I can conceive two possible complementary answers which provide some insight into the Austrian national identity and the straits it finds itself in. First of all, the thought of our history, including its atrocities, as well as the collective guilt, are omnipresent. On account of guilt usually appearing with a hint of shame, pride would be very contradicting to the existence of remorse. Different compared to

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the Netherlands, Austria is asked to critically look at its past and is reminded to do so continuously. The presence of history and guilt do show traces in the recent society and national identity as well. In his book Stranger in my own country, Yascha Mounk describes how he never felt honestly welcome in Germany and therefore never felt as a part of society due to über-philo-Semitism: “Far from being openly anti-Semitic, most Germans I met were so keen to prove to me that they weren’t anti-Semitic that they treated me with the kind of nervous niceness usually reserved for the mentally handicapped or the terminally ill. Driven by misplaced guilt and embarrassment about the unspeakable things their ancestors had done to mine, they end up feeling limitlessly sorry for me. The effect of their pity and their virtue was to leave both of us in the sense that I couldn‘t possibly have anything in common with them.” (Mounk 2015, p 31)

The omnipresence of guilt does not necessarily mean that Austrians have been processing their history in every possible way, thus speaking of trauma also in relation to the perpetrators. Sabine Bode, a German journalist and writer, was one of the first to explore the trauma of the Kriegskinder, Germans and Austrians who were born between 1930 and 1945. In her book, Die vergessene Generation (The Forgotten Generation), she points out that many children who were born during the war suffer later in life from a post-traumatic stress disorder. Furthermore, many show incapability in dealing with new, unknown experiences, a fear of everything they are not used to. Moreover, they are very often highly insecure, which limits their contact to younger generations.(Bode 2015) Some of these manners I could recognise in my grandparents too. During the first years of his life, my grandfather experienced a shortage of food, sanitarian possibilities and other tangibles. His whole life, he had been keen on saving energy and costs, which sometimes resulted in coldness at his house. My grandmother is an accurate representation of thinking in Black and White. Recognising the grey became very difficult for her, as for example the emergence of the internet. This point of view had been enhanced by her fear of change, which she shared with my grandfather.

THE AUSTRIAN

Besides living in the role of the perpetrator, having pride in their nation is burdensome to Austrians, for the Austria as we can find it now on Google Maps, has not even existed for a whole century. Until the end of the First World War in 1918, the K.u.K. monarchy9 Austria-Hungary consisted of not only German-Austria and Hungary, but also former Czechoslovakia, Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia. Austria used to be one of the most multicultural regions in Europe. Any nationalistic thinking was proscribed, as people from five different countries were peacefully living together and were also not forced to only speak German. (Herzman 2014) One could be part of Austria, but still speak Serbian at home, without being excluded. Still nowadays it is very common, especially in Vienna, to meet lots of people, who will beyond doubt regard themselves as Austrian, although their surname has no connection to the German language. There are multiple examples of well-known Austrians, who were not born in recent Austria, but have always been regarded as Austrian and also regarded themselves as being Austrian, for example: Paul Esterhazy, Franz Liszt, Eugen von Savoyen, Paul Lendvai, etc. (Herzman 2014) a last example, less well-known, would be myself: Stanislaw is originally a Slavic name. It was world of safety or as Stefan Zweig describes it in Die Welt von Gestern: Erinnerungen eines Europäers (The World of Yesterday: Memories of a European): “Everything had its own place, steady and adamant, in the highest place the venerable emperor; but if he were to die, everybody knew (or thought) a new emperor would come, and nothing would change in the well-known order. Nobody believed in wars, revolutions or subversions. Everything radical, all violence seemed to be impossible in an age of sanity.” (Zweig 2013, p 18, own translation)

When Austria became a small country, after the First World War, Vienna was all of a sudden way too big for the small population of six million back then. Moreover, Austria transformed itself from a multicultural union into a small nation with no stable common identity. It was also in the period between wwi and wwii that Austria developed the wish to join their big brother Germany, in order to re-establish a national identity. Even the name of the country has changed multiple times throughout history.

K.u.K. stands for Kaiserlich und Königlich, translated imperial and royal, i.e. Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary.

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What used to be called Austria-Hungary, was after wwi GermanAustria, became during wwii the Ostmark (German Eastern Mark) and was with the establishment of the second republic, all of sudden called Austria. How important a name is for oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s identity has been well explained by the grand-niece of Heinrich Himmler, Katrin Himmler. Very often she was confronted with people not being able to understand, that despite the bad connotations her name involves, she does not want to change it. Growing up with a name, it becomes part of your identity and also partly makes you the person you are today. (Bader & Schmeiser 2010) So what if a country fails to identify and define itself clearly? 10 The Dirndl is a typical Austrian and German

dress, which Austrians wear usually for special occasions. It consists of a skirt, a tight vest, and is worn with usually a white blouse underneath and an apron it. Some regions in the mountains also have their own regional garbs. Garb for men is usually a Lederhosn, a leather pant, combined with a shirt.

11 The Kirtag is an annual event, organized by

almost each town and city in Austria. Usually, there one meets up with people from the town, drinks, eats and dances with typical Austrian music.

For many Austrians a way to cope with the situation was to embrace tourist attractions, as for example wearing traditional clothing, and take them away from being something commercial and turn them into attributes they can identify with. A renaissance of the Dirndl10 takes place in Austria, with especially young people embracing the traditional clothing and wearing it with great pride. The Kirtag11 is now a well-visited highlight, a place to be, whereas it used to be an event reserved for mostly the elderly. More than ever before, Austrians adopt their typical and regional dialects, in order to differ themselves clearly from Germany. Another way of enhancing the feeling of community is the creation and clarification of a common enemy: in this case the Muslim community. The idea of this common enemy is encouraged by another superior identity, which we obtain as well; besides being Austrian, we are also European.

THE EUROPEAN

“Just like Narcissus, Europe is incapable of seeing anything else, than it’s own, distorted self-image, even if the consequences are to be catastrophic.”(El-Tayeb 2016, p 164, own translation)

THE EUROPEAN

I would like to articulate a definition of the term European, which is due in Europe’s recent society, especially in the media and political discourses. Although such a strict image of what it is and what it certainly is not, has of course never been loudly stated or formalised, these tacit parameters indicate a standard, which one has to meet. If one would like to call themselves European, in recent society, certain attributes need to apply to him or her: 1. Besides owning a citizenship of one of the countries, which are seen to be European,12 the European is white. One can be tanned of course (European skin also reacts to sun), but the skin colour should preferably not be darker than Pantone 58-5-C. When uncertain, you can apply the American method: The brown paper bag test. Olive skin colours build an association with the East and the South, thus you would be almost European. The typical European person is not a person of colour. Your eyes should be shaped normal, thus eyes that might indicate an Asian background are not to be considered European. 2. The European is either Christian or of no belief, both are equally fine. It does not matter if you actually practice your religion, if you have agreed on believing in Jesus once, it is enough of proof. A typical European person is not a Buddhist or Hinduist and if you are a Muslim, do not expect to be recognised as European at all. 3. When it comes to sexual orientation, you can be whatever you want to be, but be prepared to, despite our great tolerance towards this topic, hear comments like That’s so gay! and to hear others tell you how to deal with your sexual nature. (Wekker 2016)

12 If a country is regarded to be European is

not totally clear up until now. There is a pivotal, core Europe, which are basically countries which are geographically located in Western Europe, this includes countries such as France, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, and the United Kingdom. Countries which are located more in the South, as for example Greece, Spain, France or Portugal as well as countries from the East, including all the Balkan countries, are geographically almost European, thus not fully. (El-Tayeb 2016)

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In some European countries you would also not be allowed to get married. In reality, the diversity one can meet on Europeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s streets is something different from this exaggerated description, and this surely does not come as a surprise. If one examines the average population of European capitals, and partly also population in the countryside, one will recognise the presence of people of colour, People who have their roots in Turkey, Africa, South America, Asia or are from one of the Caribbean countries, or migrants from the Middle-East. Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, and people from the Balkan as well as the previously mentioned Roma and Sinti live in Europe. At this point, I would like to refer back to the case of Roma and Sinti and the definition of the good and the bad victim. (El-Tayeb 2016) In relation to the Holocaust, Roma and Sinti are seen as the bad victim, since the typical German or Austrian persons cannot identify themselves with him or her, although Roma and Sinti have lived in Europe for over 100 years. Roma and Sinti often do not fit in the previously described, fixed, image of what it means to be European. The same goes for people of colour. An interesting example to look at is the city The Hague in the Netherlands. Housing multiple international organisations, such as nato, Interpol, Shell, etc. it is known that its population consists of a lot expats. Usually, these expats, who are largely white, experience a warm welcome from the city, which is traceable by the existence of special expat-services. One can find here an expat-real estate agency, an expat doctor, an expat culture club, etc. Expats in The Hague mostly live in very posh and expensive areas and are usually also not required to learn Dutch; in this case conversation in English is seen as hip rather than as unwillingness to integrate. On the other hand, the population of The Hague does show a high percentage of people of colour or people with a migrant background. Contrary to expats, these people do not have their own real estate service, do live in Schilderswijk, an area known for being less safe and attractive, and do have to speak Dutch properly in order to receive the minimum of acceptance. To me, the example of The Hague represents well what the Iranian writer, Kader Abdolah, who lives in the Netherlands, once said during a lecture on immigration at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague: â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Dutch people do welcome everyone with

THE EUROPEAN

open arms. That is, to lift one up, shake them and thereby find out whether he or she has a lot of money in their pockets or not. If so, you are welcome, if not, one needs to prove themselves first.” Current events show us that strictly thinking in terms of we and they enhances the emergence of radical Islam and Islamic terror, because the wish to belong is part of our human nature. Imagine your parents have migrated to France from Algeria, but you are born in France. You grow up there and the only language you speak 100% fluently is French. Nevertheless, you are not regarded as French, because you do not meet all the attributes of a typical Frenchman/European, especially because you are a Muslim. At this stage, unfortunately isis sometimes garners a lot of influence and drives the conversion to radicalisation. The reaction by non-Muslim people to Islamic-terrorist attacks, often implicates the message: “You (Muslims) are either with us (non-Muslims), or against us!” and Muslims are thereby almost commanded to distance themselves from these terror attacks and ISIS’ radical thinking. (El-Tayeb 2016) This attitude may at first glance not seem that unusual or questionable, but I would like to take you back to the year 2011, to Oslo and the Norwegian island Utøya, where Anders Breivik killed 77 people, many of whom were teenagers. Try to think back and ask yourselves: Did anybody ask the white, Christian population to distance themselves from Breivik’s white supremacist way of thinking? Now, I would like to take you back to the year 2017: Neo-Nazis and white supremacists are demonstrating in Charlottesville (Virginia, usa) and a young woman, who is demonstrating against the far-right crowd, is violently killed by a neo-Nazi. Ask yourself again: Did anybody ask the white, Christian society to distance themselves from these events? I believe not. That is not only because Islam is not seen as part of the European culture, but also due to the European self-image and self-representation. Not only do we regard ourselves as being ultimately tolerant and colour-blind, where a differentiation between races does not exist, furthermore we regard incidents such as neo-fascist attacks as well as historical atrocities as the Holocaust and slavery as exceptional inconsistencies. They are rather seen as an unintended mishap, than as a conscious act of immorality and barbarity. For the European tends to believe that Europe represents not only innovative and progressive thinking, but does and has always inherited po-

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litical correctness and embodies moral decency. Other cultures and countries are the ones that need to adjust themselves to European standards, are less progressive, and show more barbarian behaviour. (Wekker 2016 & El-Tayeb 2016)

Image 3-5: Leo Asemota. Long march of Displacement, performance, 2008

In reference to this incapacity, it is important to examine how we, Europeans, tend to look at history. I would like to do that by investigating the theme of non-European art in Europe. Part of colonisation was the shipping of cultural goods and art to Europe varying from Egyptian treasures, to whole ports from Persia, to the skull of a Namibian resistance fighter. (El-Tayeb 2016) There is almost no prominent historical museum in Europeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s capitals, which does not house a giant collection of exotic art that has forcefully changed owners at least once. There have been attempts by former colonised countries to claim what is rightfully theirs back, but those requests have been denied. At this whole discourse, former colonising countries rather claim to be the selfless saviours of these artworks, who have brought these treasures safely to Europe in order to protect them from the barbarian, foolish people living in the colonies. European countries are defending these non-European collections by saying their intentions are most benign and their goal is to give European people an impression of other cultures and bring different ethnicities together. One can probably only imagine what a big scandal it would be, if an African or Middle-Eastern country claimed European art and stored it in their museums. Shortly before Nigeria would send a request to Britain about getting its artworks back, the Nigerian artist Lea Asemota started the Ens Project in 2005, which was about goods and art stolen by the British during colonisation. During the British colonisation, the capital of the kingdom, Benin, was burned and goods were stolen. The Ens project consisted of three parts, whereby the third part was called The long March of Displacement and took place in 2008. Three black men walked through the streets of London, dressed in military uniforms, towards the St. Paul cathedral, where a plaque commemorating the sixtieth anniversary of Queen Victoria is placed. One of them would start practising rituals

THE EUROPEAN

with chalk and cylinder, which are originally from Nigeria. Asemotaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s performance could be seen as an attempt to search for his â&#x20AC;&#x17E;historical roots during colonisationâ&#x20AC;&#x153;. (Bouwhuis & Schavemaker 2010) By taking away artworks from a country, its people are being robbed of a piece of their identity. Therefore, it is a necessity for former colonising powers to return the artworks they have stolen to their rightful owners, to the one that can find identity in it. If stolen goods stay in Europe, ex-colonised countries do not have the possibility to reconstruct their national culture.

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“Nationality is one of the most significant and interesting things about anyone, and therefore about any art. It affects the content and character of art at least as much as, say, gender does, even or perhaps especially when an artist tries deliberately to transcend it. The modern figure of the expatriate —Picasso, Nabokov, Beckett —is often a case of nationality enhanced by distance.” (Schjeldahl 1991, p 80)

ART & NATIONAL IDENTITY THROUGHOUT HISTORY Art did and does have an impact on the definition of national identity. In some historical cases it even helped develop a sense of nationality and nationhood, in extreme cases art contributed to the development of nationalism. When the Netherlands was at war with Spain in the 17th century and was fighting to become an independent nation, a sense of nationhood had been developed through the identification with the story of the Israelites from the Old Testament. (Smith 2013) “...adapted to the modern context from the Old Testament story of the Israelites’ deliverance from Egyptian slavery was fundamental to Dutch self-understanding during their struggle for independence (1570-1609) against the Spanish ‘tyranny’ that ‘enslaved’ them...” (Buck-Morss 2009, p 24)

The story of the Israelites had been picked up by many artists of the Dutch Golden Age. Paintings would depict sceneries of the Old Testament, involving the confrontation of a master and a slave, whereby the slave represents the Netherlands. (Smith 2013) These paintings did not only promote the idea of a Dutch unity, but had an influence on the recent Dutch self-perception in terms of colonisa-

Image 6-7: Frans Hals. Double portrait of a couple, oil on canvas, 1622, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam & Family Group in a Landscape, oil on canvas, 1645-48, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid

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tion and slavery. Since the Netherlands and its people regard themselves as victims, who were suppressed, it is difficult for them to acknowledge their role as the slave-trader. The Dutch self-perception follows the principle, that one cannot be a victim and perpetrator at the same time. Additionally, many historians as for example Schama, treat the Dutch colonial history as something purely capitalistic with no relation to slavery. The presence of people of colour is very often being left out, which means that painters would rather portrait Dutch people without any person of colour being present in the picture. Thereby, they gave the impression that slavery had no impact on the domestic life of an average Dutch family back then. This also means, that a Dutch history book would rather print the first image by Frans Hals, than the second one (which is quite exceptional), where the presence of a slave within the average Dutch family is not denied. (Buck-Morss 2009) Although these works have been made in the past, they are still being used as a tool to construct a national identity. The Dutch Prime Minister, Mark Rutte, has stated that he wants each elementary school to visit the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam at least once. On first sight, this might seem as a positive announcement (especially in relation to the cultural cuts made in the past years), but actually it is a right-wing strategy to revive the Dutch colonial glory and create a national identity. (Van ‘t Hek, 2017) At the same time, NiNsee, the National Institute of Dutch Slavery Heritage as well as the library of the Royal Tropical Institute, two important cultural institutes who focused on the Dutch colonial history, had to be closed due to financial cutbacks. Abram de Swaan, professor of sociology, made some important comments on this development. “He lucidly remarked that the fate of NiNsee mirrors [...] how the Netherlands looks at its postcolonial citizens: ‘still not taken seriously, not their past of slavery, nor their presence in this country’” (De Swaan 2013, Wekker 2016, p 14) The shutdown of NiNsee is the continuation of Frans Hals not portraying the presence of slaves: The existence of slavery, colonisation is being denied and history is being rewritten. Art defining national identity is a global phenomenon. In France many artists consciously depicted scenes of the French

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Revolution in order to enhance the feeling of community and strengthen the revolution’s virtue. Through landscape paintings and the representation of war scenes, the idea of a national pride had been increased by art. (Smith 2013) Art also helped a lot at the emergence of the Mexican Revolution. Since Mexico was a country with more than 90 percent illiterates, the leaders of the Mexican revolution in 1910, who were mostly part of the elite, assigned painters to make murals, which would function as an encouragement for a discourse, but more importantly transmit the idea of an uproar. (Von Weingand 2016) Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco and David Alfaro Siqueiros became the Los Tres Grandes or The Big Three. Although these artists might have had different political preferences, they were all keen on creating a Mexican national identity through their works. Frida Kahlo expressed her love for her nation mostly by rejecting European clothing and embracing typical Mexican costumes. But also her paintings do, despite her inward approach and surrealistic dreaminess, reflect the theme of nationality. “The depiction of her own trauma served as a reflection of the suffering she saw in her own country”. (Von Weingand 2016)

ART AND NATIONAL IDENTITY TODAY 13 The Palast der Republik (The palace of the

The work ‘Zweifel’ in Berlin by Danish artist Lars Ø Ramberg depicts the topic of being uncertain about a national identity. The work consists of the huge letters forming the word Zweifel (doubt). They were placed upon the Palast der Republik,13 which had not been used for many years and was about to be demolished. He wanted to create a Palace of Doubt. On his website he describes the project as follows:

republic) is situated in former East Berlin and was once one of the most impressive buildings there. “After the fall of ddr in 1990, the palace was abandoned and left empty and dark for more than 15 years. Between 1998 -2003 asbestos was removed and in the process the complete interior and the facade was ruined.” (www.larsramberg.de)

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“Monitoring these debates over years Ramberg developed the idea to create a monument -over the debate itself, the transparency of the identity discourse, and the collective courage to doubt. Palast des Zweifel was his tribute to the new era of German history, where Doubt has become a proof of reflection and democracy. Collective doubt has brought Germany out of its totalitarian backImage 8: Lars Ø Ramsberg. Palast des Zweifels, installation, Berlin

ground and in fact united the two German nations. (...) Palast des ZWEIFELS became an aggregate for politics itself, performing new debates on national identity as well as the destiny of the Palace. (...) ” (www.larsramberg.de; 17-10-2017)

Image 9: Emily Jacir. Ramallah/New York two-channel video installation, 2004-2005, MOMA New York

What I appreciate about this artwork, is the accentuation of doubt in the process of defining a national identity. It shows us, that a collective identity is not always as clearly definable as we believe it to be. This can be influenced by history but also by other factors, as the example of Austria has shown. But especially in times of extensive immigration caused by the refugee-crisis, doubt, alteration and re-clarifying our national identity nearly becomes part of our daily agenda. Yet, the great majority of Europeans take no account of one important aspect: the identity of refugees being re-cultivated as well. The Palestinian artist Emily Jacir, living in New York, made a video installation called Ramallah/New York, which could be placed in the field of diaspora. At Ramallah/New York Jacir split the screen, one side showing Ramallah in Palestine, the other half showing New York. She is showing us images of everyday life, e.g. at the hairdresser, the grocery store, etc. Though, we do not get to know, which screen is showing which city and the viewer will quickly realise that it is almost impossible to „visually decipher“ the two locations. (Bhaba 2011) With her work Jacir depicts the conditions of locality and community, through the lens of diaspora. “It is about the relationship of myself and my experience and my body to my surroundings. Whether it’s here or in New York or in Ramallah. It is about passing through places… about me wandering through space and time, and about borders crossings, and exchanges.” (Jacir 2004, pp. 3–4) Homi K. Bhaba sees her work in the context of „refugee accommodation“ and that Jacir’s

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intention is to show us how refugees are trying to rebuild their life in a new society. (Bhaba 2011) From my point of view, Jacir’s work very much addresses questions like “When did the Kebab become Western?” She shows us, that immigration opens up the national narrative and identity of a country and can thereby be expanded. We cannot tell which of the two videos was filmed in New York, because if the national identity of a country is extended through immigration, something foreign becomes ours. Depicting the theme of cultural diversity, the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven started a large-scaled research project called Be[com]ing Dutch in 2007. The research project consisted of debates, readings, exhibitions, residencies and other artist projects, which were all focused on the question of the collective and cultural identity as well as inclusiveness and exclusiveness. At the centre stood the intention to question Dutch values, which have not been touched before. (becomingdutch.com, 18-10-2017) For doing so, the Van Abbemuseum had been widely criticised (like the Rijksmuseum) by the Dutch people. The discussion on Be[com]ing Dutch reached its peak, with the project Read The Mask. Tradition is not given., a tripartite art project on the controversial figure Zwarte Piet by Annette Kraus and Petra Bauer. Initially the project would consist of three parts: An installation, containing protest signs and posters against Zwarte Piet, a protest march and the third part would be a film, documenting the whole process. (Ten Thije 2016) Nevertheless, the museum and the artists never managed to past the second part, for when the idea of protesting against Zwarte Piet had been made public, the museum had been flooded with hate-mails, partly also containing serious threats towards the participating parties. The protest had to be turned into a discussion due to security issues. When it comes to discussion about the history of a country and the request to look critically at it, many people react very emotional and almost aggressive. They are arguing that they are being robbed of their pride in their nation and nationality. Personally, I have never really been proud of my heritage, because it seemed inappropriate on the one hand, and on the other hand I felt like I needed permission to do so. My friend and designer Carina Stella experienced the same situation, especially when she noticed her Australian husband‘s pride in his heritage. Wondering why it was

Image 10: Carina Stella. Bygone Identity Crisis, fabric, 2015

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for some countries, like Australia, easier to have pride in their nation than others, she summed up her thoughts in a beautiful fabric, which represents the good and bad symbols of the Austrian culture, accompanied by the words: Pride requires identity, Identity requires confrontation, Confrontation requires examination, Examination requires an opinion, An opinion requires awareness, Awareness requires identity, Identity requires pride.

14 “The title of the exhibition refers to both Iver

Jåks view on art — which is also present in the younger artists practices — and to an increasing interest and respect for the Sami cultures. Visibility and pride are growing alongside processes of rewriting of history and an interest in language.” (kunsthalltrondheim.no, 17-10-2017)

15 The Samen or often called Sami are proba-

bly the only indigenous, European people, living in the Northern part of Scandinavia. It is known that they have lived in Scandinavia since the end of the Ice Age. With the immigration of the Vikings and throughout the whole history they have been forced to move continuously up North, had many of their rights revoked and lost large parts of their land. Their situation is similar to the indigenous people of America: Sami have often been forced to work, their payment was alcohol. A big part of the Samen are still working as reindeer breeders or in the fishing industry, since the Northern landscape of Scandinavia, for instance Lapland, does not offer much more possibilities.

Stella’s work talks about being critical and having pride at the same time. She even goes one step further and claims, that pride actually requires a confrontation with the past and its wrongdoings. To me, this is a very important new perspective, since for me accounting for the past and being proud were two contradicting phenomena. During the summer of 2017 the exhibition noe beveger seg sakte i en annen retning (something is slowly moving in a different direction14 took place at the Kunsthall in Trondheim, Norway. The show presented five young Sami artists15 and their view on their culture and history. It was probably one of a few expositions in Europe which put the existence of this very often forgotten minority into the spotlight. The work Notes on hide by Carola Grahn, which was also presented during the show, is about the body, ethnicity and belonging. Grahn, who often works with writings, used reindeer skin to imply words and symbols on it, which refer to the lack of rights conceded to the Sami and stresses the violence of history. Sissel M. Bergh, another young Sami artist, dove into the impact Sami language had and still has on many areas in Norway. Through her practice, Bergh works with the etymology of words and shows thereby the neglected presence of Sami language and culture. A large root installation implies the struggle of staying connected to the past. Political works and projects on inclusiveness like Be[com] ing Dutch are certainly present and probably will also gradually propagate over the next few years, yet they are still exceptions in the mainstream art world. Initiatives like political discussions,

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research projects on diversity and ethnicity, ideas for a progressive approach towards art, for example, tours for the blind and deaf, are side projects. These activities are mostly in addition to the programme for the wider public. (Ten Thije 2016) Also even with the ascendance of exhibitions dedicated to minorities, shows like noe beveger seg sakte i en annen retning are still an exception in the common, contemporary art scene. If an event with the focus on, for instance, racialised people takes place, it is often part the previously described extra. Nationality, no matter if we like it or not, is a fundamental part of our being. To accept and investigate your own nationality and how it influences your own identity is probably just as burdensome as transcending it. Art plays a vital role in this process. In the past, art has unfortunately often been used to erase history, by not representing society in a veracious way. Today it either offers one a mirror, which shows a reflection of the society you are living in. Or it becomes a tool to investigate oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s roots, for example, the works by the Sami artists. But the artist also has the opportunity to render a possible future and thereby cause a change in society. Yet, this is rather a phenomenon of the past. I would like to see more artists today challenging our fixed ideas of national identity through their works and thereby change it. I would like to see the art world posing an example of progressiveness.

ETHNICITY AND EQUALITY IN THE CONTEMPORARY ART WORLD Despite the creative field being more tolerant than other working areas, the art world has also developed a distorted self-image, when

Image 11-13: Carola Grahn. Notes on Hide, mixed materials, date unknown

Image 14: Sissel M. Bergh. Rotveld, installation, 2017

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it comes to equality. The art world likes to believe, that ethnicity and nationality are attributes which do not play a significant part in the career of an artist and that everyone has the same opportunities. The example of the Venice Biennale, shows that this is not the case. Besides housing a big exhibition at the Arsenale site, there are multiple pavilions at Giardini, each representing one country. Before the Biennale takes place, each country appoints a curator, who will then pick one or several artists to present work at the pavilion. No big problem can be found in this system, as many other events do not exclude the aspect of nationality either, like the football world championship. Though, what makes the concept of the Biennale less acceptable in terms of equality, is that there simply is no equality. Whereas Western countries do have their own pavilion and have the financial means to represent themselves frequently, many non-Western countries do not have their own pavilion, which means that they are either not represented at all or ‘squeezed in’ at the Arsenale site (or anywhere else). This was also the case at the 2017 Biennale, when the Thai pavilion was located at a cafe and some works were even placed next to the bathroom. (Friedmanl 2017) The South African pavilion was housed in a separate room at the Arsenale site, which is already a bit better, however the experience of looking at art works in the pavilions is a different one. “There is a sense of establishment and history that accompanies art presented in a building devoted entirely to one country. This gives more weight and credibility to the art presented in pavilions that are free standing buildings (…)” (Friedmanl 2017) Furthermore, it is interesting to observe that, mostly when someone is talking about the artworks presented at the Biennale, almost nobody brings the artworks in relation to the artist. Very often even the name of the artist is forgotten, the only thing the beholder particularly remembers is the nation, the nationality. Such behaviour is very common at the Biennale, due to the implicit competition taking place between the participating countries. The Venice Biennale is not an exception in terms of inequality in nowadays art world. Museums and other art institutions in the Western world are frequently whiter than the city or state they are placed in. One might argue at this point that the number of nonwhite people in the art scene is relative to the general population; in the case of New York City its art world is found to be 200% whiter than its citizens. (Steinhauer 2014)

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In 1989 Greg Tate wrote: â&#x20AC;&#x153;To this day, (the art world) remains a bastion of white supremacy, a scone of the wealthy whose high-walled barricades are matched only by Wall Street and the White House and whose exclusionary practices are enforced 24-7-365. It is easier for a rich white man to enter the kingdom of heaven than for a Black abstract and/or conceptual artist to get a one-woman show in lower Manhattan or a feature in the pages of Artforum, Art in America, or the Village Voice.â&#x20AC;? (Segedin 1993)

I will not deny that positive changes have taken place since then, but the sad truth is that a black artist needs to make it in the black art world first, before they can make themselves known in the mainstream art world. I cannot stress enough how important it is for the creative field to give an example of inclusiveness, due to one simple reason: if not even the art world, which is to be regarded and also considers itself as one of the most progressive areas, manages to implement equality into its daily agenda, how can the rest of society ever learn from us? We need to set an example of equality for others.

THE CONTEMPORARY ARTIST AND THEIR ROLE IN INCLUSIVENESS

If we look at a contemporary art work, we mostly see a rendering of current society, possibly highlighting social and political problems. Although, the mirroring of such circumstances is a powerful characteristic of art, I wonder if it is the most progressive way of

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working. Not least because works that leave the viewer with the feeling of: And what now? Where do we go next? can certainly be very provocative, but generally the viewer is already used to being confronted with a reflection of society. The spectator is not expecting to see a proposal for a future scenario. Though, if we take a look at art history, artists did very often picture possible futures, often also in relation to national identity and took thereby an active role in its definition. I believe that we can learn a lot from these artists and use their methods to extend and change our national identity inclusively towards minorities. To do so, artists need to dare to work with their imagination and propose an insight for the future. I would not like only to see artworks which say We do have a problem with integration, but also works which say Being European also means being a person of colour. Museums can also take an important function as role models. Minorities in today’s art institution are often more a tool of meeting an ‘equality’-rate, in order to be able to say Look, how tolerant we are, we even have a person of colour working here! And no, he is not cleaning our toilets. This means, that art institutions as well do not dare to propose an example of a progressive future, but are limiting themselves to current state of society. I would like to see museums and other art institutions to present an example of real inclusiveness.

CONCLUSION

A critical confrontation with the past does not exclude the possibility to be proud of one’s heritage. The contrary is the case: if we come to terms with our past and take the responsibility for our ancestors’ actions, this can lead to a positive change, we can gain pride by recent, progressive actions. We should welcome the step from a one-sided view on history to a critical view on our whole history and its ramifications. The Western world needs to re-educate itself. Once again, it is about collective responsibility, not guilt. Within taking on this responsibility, we will come to several realisations with regard to our self-perception and definition of a common identity. As Sunny Bergman already said once: White is a colour too. (Bergman 2016) Europe needs to learn to integrate itself into a multicultural world, which also means that we are about the redefine our standards into an inclusive model. One step towards this integration is the discernment that a national identity does not have to be something designated, something that was clarified once and never adjusted again afterwards. A national identity is rather something that is reinvented each day. “The identity of a person, a clan, a nation or a culture is not inherent or static, it is rather something that is acquired and part of perpetual development.” (Herzman 2014, p 23, own translation)

The prominence of racism and strictly thinking in terms of we and they enhances the need and wish for the rethinking of our national identity or what it means to be European. This alteration

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is also an important aspect of progressively coming to terms with our past. Historical cases provide the proof of art having an impact on such developments and changes. If historically proven techniques and methods were to be adjusted to recent needs, art could positively change national identities. The fixed idea of art being the societyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mirror does have some positive impacts, though to my mind it partly prevents us from progressing. If the function of art is to mirror what is already happening, how can the public start to imagine what could be? At this point, we might have to rethink our definition of what art is and what we are aiming to accomplish with our works. Artists need to be one step ahead of society and rather see art as a possibility to give insights into the future, than only monitoring the present. I am certain that art can not only encourage Western societies to critically reflect on the past and present, but also offer proposals for inclusive Western societies. My research has greatly supported me in the development of my graduation project as well. It led me to the realisation that nationality has a way bigger impact on me than I had expected. Simultaneously, the confrontation with my nationality and its history involved a personal acceptance as well. Before I moved to the Netherlands, I was keen on escaping everything that could be regarded as Austrian; I wanted to transcend my own nationality. I am now at the stage of not being ashamed of my nationality anymore, embracing the beautiful aspects of it and yet, still being critical. I have made peace with Austria. I aspire to the European, the Austrian and the Artist within me to enter into a partnership, which hopefully, in terms of accepting my heritage, will challenge me and others to be considerate and receptive. Since in the end, I am a white, privileged art student writing about social and racial problems which I have personally never encountered. Having the freedom to write on such matters and being heard is a great advantage and I need to remind myself continuously that it is not available to everyone. Nevertheless, I will not abrogate my right and ability to explain what it means to be racially or ethnically discriminated against, but I can use my work to make others listen to those who can. I intend to join other artists in using my art as a megaphone to call out our Dear History â&#x20AC;&#x201D; because our identity, our art, and our future depend on it.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Arendt, Hannah: “Eichmann in Jerusalem—I”, issue February 16, 1963, The New Yorker Bader, Simone & Schmeiser, Jo: Liebe Geschichte. Klub Zwei, 2010 (documentary) Bergman, Sunny: Zwart als Roet. NPO 2014 (documentary) Bergman, Sunny: Wit is ook een kleur. VPRO, 2016, (documentary) Bhaba, Homi K.: Our Neighbors, Ourselves: Contemporary reflections on survival. De Gruyter, 2011 Bode, Sabine: Die vergessene Generation: Die Kriegskinder brechen ihr Schweigen. Klett-Cotta, Edition 22, 2015 Bouwhuis, Jelle & Schavemaker Margriet: “An Introduction; part of Monumentalism”. Monumenta lism. NAi publishers, 2010 Branscombe, Nyla R. & Doosje, Bertjan: Collective Guilt: International Perspectives. Cambridge University Press, 2004 Buck-Morss, Susan: Hegel, Haiti and Universal History. University of Pittsburgh Press; 1st edition, 2009 El-Tayeb, Fatima: Undeutsch, Die Konstruktion des anderen in der postmigrantischen Gesellschaft. transcript Verlag, Bielefeld, 2016 Ferguson, Mark A. & Branscombe, Nyla R: “The social psychology of collective guilt”, publication date not found, oxfordsholarship.com, http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:o so/9780199659180.001.0001/acprof-9780199659180-chapter-17; 30-09-2016 Friedmanl: “Venice Biennale: Nationalism and the State as Art Institution (Space as Medium: Part 1)”, posted by Friedmanl on August 8, 2017; blogs.carleton.edu, http://blogs. carleton.edu/artnow/2017/08/08/venice-biennale-nationalism-and-the-state-as-art-insti tution-space-as-medium-part-1/; 13-10-2017 Herzman, Herbert: Nationale Identität: Mythos und Wirklichkeit am Beispiel Österreich. Tredition, 2014 Jaspers, Karl: Die Schuldfrage. R. Piper & Co, Edition 1987 Mounk, Yascha: Stranger in my own country. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, first edition; 2015 Neiman, Susan: “History and Guilt”. 2013, aeon.co, https://aeon.co/essays/dare-we-compare-ameri can-slavery-to-the-holocaust Schindler’s List: directed by Steven Spielberg. Universal Pictures, 1993 Schjeldahl, Peter: “Art & National Identity: A critics‘ symposium”. Art in America, September 1991 Segedin, Leo: “Making it: Race, Gender and Ethnicity in the Artworld”. 1993, leopoldsegedin.com; http://www.leopoldsegedin.com/essay_detail_making.cfm, 12-10-2017 Smith, Anthony D.: The Nation Made Real. Oxford University Press, 2013 Steinhauer, Jilian: “Report Finds NYC’s Art World 200% Whiter Than Its Population”. 2014, hyperaller gic.com; https://hyperallergic.com/135474/report-finds-nycs-art-world-200-whiter-than- its-population/, 18-10-2017 Ten Thije, Steven: Het geëmancipeerde museum. published by Mondriaan Fonds, 2016 Van ‘t Hek, Ko: “Musea Worden Door Het Kabinet Misbruikt Voor de Nationale Identiteit”, 2017, trouw. nl; https://www.trouw.nl/opinie/musea-worden-door-het-kabinet-misbruikt-voor-de-natio nale-identiteit~aea28b9b/?utm_content=buffer5b971&utm_medium=social&utm_sour ce=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer, 22-11-2017 Von Weingand, Ellen: “How Mexico Formed a United National Identity Through Art”. 2016, culturertrip. com; https://theculturetrip.com/north-america/mexico/articles/art-of-the-mexican-re volution-forming-a-united-national-identity/, 06-11-2017 Wekker, Gloria: White Innocence. Duke University Press Book, 2016 Zweig, Stefan: Die Welt von gestern: Erinnerungen eines Europäers. Anaconda Verlag, 2013

IMAGE CREDITS Image 1: Image 2: Image 3–5: Image 6: Image 7: Image 8: Image 9: Image 10: Image 11–12: Image 13: Image 14:

Courtesy the Artist Nest, The Hague; photo by Jhoeko Courtesy the Artist, Tate modern Rijksmuseum Amsterdam Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid Wikipedia.com Courtesy the Artist and MOMA New York Courtesy the Artist Courtesy the Artist Tamara Stanislaw Kunsthall Trondheim/Aage A. Mikalsen

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