Yadegar Asisi: “New York 9/11”

Yagegar Asisi in conversation with Dieter Kassel

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9/11 was a moment that connects us all, says artist Yadegar Asisi. ((c) Asisi)

Yadegar Asisi makes statements against terror and violence with huge panoramas. After “Leipzig 1813” and “Dresden 1945”, “New York 9/11” is his third anti-war project. It should be on view in Leipzig from March 2022.

“It wasn’t so natural for me to deal with this topic,” says Yadegar Assisi. The artist and architect is known for his huge panorama pictures, up to 100 meters long and 30 meters high. They often show historical scenes such as the bombing of Dresden in 1945. And now “New York 9/11”.

It took Asisi a long time to approach the topic of Ground Zero, he says. However, it was clear to him that he wanted to deal with it artistically since he saw the hole that the 9/11 explosion tore in the ground. “It’s just a hole in the city. But it’s so occupied by the pictures, by all these things, that from then on it was clear to me: I have to deal with this topic.”

The idea for the panorama matured for almost 20 years

For a long time it was unclear to the artist how. Because his works begin with a thought. However, it had to mature first. “Back then I had no thought at all, I was still shocked,” says Asisi. “When I had the idea how I wanted to implement it, there was actually no stopping it.”

Asisi approaches the war with such panoramas: Participants and guests in a discussion group in front of the panorama of “Dresden 1945”. (picture alliance / dpa / Sebastian Kahnert)

The central question for him was: “How do we actually react to violence, what does it actually mean when something like this happens?” He asked himself where the beginning of a development was. You watch things and ask yourself: Why are the decisions like this? “We are contemporary witnesses of a decision that changed this world.”

Everything is a system of the whole. “But what do we do as individuals?” Asks the artist. “We had a collective memory for this moment”, everyone could describe this moment for himself. We were all connected for a moment.

From there on start a development – a personal and a world development. It was clear to him: “I have to bring this about again.”

And what can a panorama look like then? “There is a symbiosis between the exhibition that is in front of the panorama and the panorama itself,” explains the artist. In the exhibition he tries to offer a question. We went back 20 years in memory before we went into the panorama.

We already had way too many pictures in our head for the event itself. We walked along the panorama with a time axis, which is also our own time axis. The moment is decisive. “What if we stand five minutes before it? I think it’s such an emotional moment. I don’t know what happens to the individual then.” He also makes no suggestion.

But in the best case scenario, this gives rise to one or the other question. “Maybe I’ll also take an emotionality with me that is completely different from these pictures,” says Asisi.

During the conversation, Yadegar Asisi named one Opening date for the panorama “New York 9/11”: It will start on March 12th, 2022 in Leipzig.

(ros)

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