The Ship of Fools

1984 - 1987

Cast: Herbich

Originally the sculpture was designed as a  fountain

(for comparison see Historienbrunnen in Koblenz)

 A fool is he who donates  a memorial, for he will heavily  be criticized  for the endowment, He could have saved the trouble and the money ,

(Kurt Klutentreter)

The Ship of Fools is a scripture by Sebastian Brant from  1495 in which he describes the world  as a ship which is  steered to ruin by fools. This idea fascinated me. On the basis of this topic I could make visible and illustrate our fears of nature being destroyed by technical overexploitation or by extinction of life by nuclear disasters. And, apart from that, what is a better symbol than a ship of fools for our art business and the politicians strutting around smugly in it.

The fool´s face with the clamp cap in this context means bad luck anyhow, and the arms of the octopus remind of the snakes an the ancient head of Medusa: a connection of medieval and ancient allegories, which are typical for renaissanve literatur and the epic poem by Brant. As I attached a bejewelled female fool´s head to the stern of the ship as well the ship actually became directionless, foreward and backward finally are the same.  What could more aptly characterise the situation of "progress"?"

"The withered tree of knowledge as the mast of the ship of fools, as an allegory of withered reason, thus brought me to the image of a second expulsion of people and all living things from this earth into nothingness: the central figure of my new design became Death wielding the clap of fools like a scythe, driving Adam and Eve with their little murderer son Cain out of the ship that means the world. I then assigned violence, avarice and resignation to them as allegories of the worst folly. (...)

To death I assigned the hound of hell. From the dead tree - also a symbol for the dying of plants - a crow rises. Plants People and animals leave this ark symbolising the world or are driven out of it. That should be the message."(Jürgen Weber)

Inscription on the north side:

A fool is he who considers it to be a miracle that God now punishes the world and sends plagues and pestilence even though we still are Christians.

(first four lines from God sends Plague and Punishment from The Ship of Fools by Sebastian Brant)

VIOLENCE +TECCHOLOGY AND RESIGNATION

Inscription on the south side:

A fool is he who hears a lot of good things, but nevertheless does not become any wiser, who wishes to gain lots of experience, but  nevertheless does not want to become a better person.

(first four lines from: Fool yesterday as today from the Ship of Fools by Sebastian Brant)

DESTROY LIFE AND THE DEATH LAUGHS HIS HEAD OF:

Literature:

- Das Ehekarussell, Jürgen Weber, Verlag M. Edelmann, Nürnberg, 1985

- Das Narrenschiff, Kunst ohne Kompass, Universitas Verlag, München, 1994

The Ship of Fools

1984 - 1987

Cast: Herbich

Originally the sculpture was designed as a  fountain

(for comparison see Historienbrunnen in Koblenz)

 A fool is he who donates  a memorial, for he will heavily  be criticized  for the endowment, He could have saved the trouble and the money ,

(Kurt Klutentreter)

The Ship of Fools is a scripture by Sebastian Brant from  1495 in which he describes the world  as a ship which is  steered to ruin by fools. This idea fascinated me. On the basis of this topic I could make visible and illustrate our fears of nature being destroyed by technical overexploitation or by extinction of life by nuclear disasters. And, apart from that, what is a better symbol than a ship of fools for our art business and the politicians strutting around smugly in it.

The fool´s face with the clamp cap in this context means bad luck anyhow, and the arms of the octopus remind of the snakes an the ancient head of Medusa: a connection of medieval and ancient allegories, which are typical for renaissanve literatur and the epic poem by Brant. As I attached a bejewelled female fool´s head to the stern of the ship as well the ship actually became directionless, foreward and backward finally are the same.  What could more aptly characterise the situation of "progress"?"

"The withered tree of knowledge as the mast of the ship of fools, as an allegory of withered reason, thus brought me to the image of a second expulsion of people and all living things from this earth into nothingness: the central figure of my new design became Death wielding the clap of fools like a scythe, driving Adam and Eve with their little murderer son Cain out of the ship that means the world. I then assigned violence, avarice and resignation to them as allegories of the worst folly. (...)

To death I assigned the hound of hell. From the dead tree - also a symbol for the dying of plants - a crow rises. Plants People and animals leave this ark symbolising the world or are driven out of it. That should be the message."(Jürgen Weber)

Inscription on the north side:

A fool is he who considers it to be a miracle that God now punishes the world and sends plagues and pestilence even though we still are Christians.

(first four lines from God sends Plague and Punishment from The Ship of Fools by Sebastian Brant)

VIOLENCE +TECCHOLOGY AND RESIGNATION

Inscription on the south side:

A fool is he who hears a lot of good things, but nevertheless does not become any wiser, who wishes to gain lots of experience, but  nevertheless does not want to become a better person.

(first four lines from: Fool yesterday as today from the Ship of Fools by Sebastian Brant)

DESTROY LIFE AND THE DEATH LAUGHS HIS HEAD OF:

Literature:

- Das Ehekarussell, Jürgen Weber, Verlag M. Edelmann, Nürnberg, 1985

- Das Narrenschiff, Kunst ohne Kompass, Universitas Verlag, München, 1994

The Ship of Fools

1984 - 1987

Cast: Herbich

Originally the sculpture was designed as a  fountain

(for comparison see Historienbrunnen in Koblenz)

 A fool is he who donates  a memorial, for he will heavily  be criticized  for the endowment, He could have saved the trouble and the money ,

(Kurt Klutentreter)

The Ship of Fools is a scripture by Sebastian Brant from  1495 in which he describes the world  as a ship which is  steered to ruin by fools. This idea fascinated me. On the basis of this topic I could make visible and illustrate our fears of nature being destroyed by technical overexploitation or by extinction of life by nuclear disasters. And, apart from that, what is a better symbol than a ship of fools for our art business and the politicians strutting around smugly in it.

The fool´s face with the clamp cap in this context means bad luck anyhow, and the arms of the octopus remind of the snakes an the ancient head of Medusa: a connection of medieval and ancient allegories, which are typical for renaissanve literatur and the epic poem by Brant. As I attached a bejewelled female fool´s head to the stern of the ship as well the ship actually became directionless, foreward and backward finally are the same.  What could more aptly characterise the situation of "progress"?"

"The withered tree of knowledge as the mast of the ship of fools, as an allegory of withered reason, thus brought me to the image of a second expulsion of people and all living things from this earth into nothingness: the central figure of my new design became Death wielding the clap of fools like a scythe, driving Adam and Eve with their little murderer son Cain out of the ship that means the world. I then assigned violence, avarice and resignation to them as allegories of the worst folly. (...)

To death I assigned the hound of hell. From the dead tree - also a symbol for the dying of plants - a crow rises. Plants People and animals leave this ark symbolising the world or are driven out of it. That should be the message."(Jürgen Weber)

Inscription on the north side:

A fool is he who considers it to be a miracle that God now punishes the world and sends plagues and pestilence even though we still are Christians.

(first four lines from God sends Plague and Punishment from The Ship of Fools by Sebastian Brant)

VIOLENCE +TECCHOLOGY AND RESIGNATION

Inscription on the south side:

A fool is he who hears a lot of good things, but nevertheless does not become any wiser, who wishes to gain lots of experience, but  nevertheless does not want to become a better person.

(first four lines from: Fool yesterday as today from the Ship of Fools by Sebastian Brant)

DESTROY LIFE AND THE DEATH LAUGHS HIS HEAD OF:

Literature:

- Das Ehekarussell, Jürgen Weber, Verlag M. Edelmann, Nürnberg, 1985

- Das Narrenschiff, Kunst ohne Kompass, Universitas Verlag, München, 1994

The Ship of Fools

1984 - 1987

Cast: Herbich

Originally the sculpture was designed as a  fountain

(for comparison see Historienbrunnen in Koblenz)

 A fool is he who donates  a memorial, for he will heavily  be criticized  for the endowment, He could have saved the trouble and the money ,

(Kurt Klutentreter)

The Ship of Fools is a scripture by Sebastian Brant from  1495 in which he describes the world  as a ship which is  steered to ruin by fools. This idea fascinated me. On the basis of this topic I could make visible and illustrate our fears of nature being destroyed by technical overexploitation or by extinction of life by nuclear disasters. And, apart from that, what is a better symbol than a ship of fools for our art business and the politicians strutting around smugly in it.

The fool´s face with the clamp cap in this context means bad luck anyhow, and the arms of the octopus remind of the snakes an the ancient head of Medusa: a connection of medieval and ancient allegories, which are typical for renaissanve literatur and the epic poem by Brant. As I attached a bejewelled female fool´s head to the stern of the ship as well the ship actually became directionless, foreward and backward finally are the same.  What could more aptly characterise the situation of "progress"?"

"The withered tree of knowledge as the mast of the ship of fools, as an allegory of withered reason, thus brought me to the image of a second expulsion of people and all living things from this earth into nothingness: the central figure of my new design became Death wielding the clap of fools like a scythe, driving Adam and Eve with their little murderer son Cain out of the ship that means the world. I then assigned violence, avarice and resignation to them as allegories of the worst folly. (...)

To death I assigned the hound of hell. From the dead tree - also a symbol for the dying of plants - a crow rises. Plants People and animals leave this ark symbolising the world or are driven out of it. That should be the message."(Jürgen Weber)

Inscription on the north side:

A fool is he who considers it to be a miracle that God now punishes the world and sends plagues and pestilence even though we still are Christians.

(first four lines from God sends Plague and Punishment from The Ship of Fools by Sebastian Brant)

VIOLENCE +TECCHOLOGY AND RESIGNATION

Inscription on the south side:

A fool is he who hears a lot of good things, but nevertheless does not become any wiser, who wishes to gain lots of experience, but  nevertheless does not want to become a better person.

(first four lines from: Fool yesterday as today from the Ship of Fools by Sebastian Brant)

DESTROY LIFE AND THE DEATH LAUGHS HIS HEAD OF:

Literature:

- Das Ehekarussell, Jürgen Weber, Verlag M. Edelmann, Nürnberg, 1985

- Das Narrenschiff, Kunst ohne Kompass, Universitas Verlag, München, 1994

The Ship of Fools

1984 - 1987

Cast: Herbich

Originally the sculpture was designed as a  fountain

(for comparison see Historienbrunnen in Koblenz)

 A fool is he who donates  a memorial, for he will heavily  be criticized  for the endowment, He could have saved the trouble and the money ,

(Kurt Klutentreter)

The Ship of Fools is a scripture by Sebastian Brant from  1495 in which he describes the world  as a ship which is  steered to ruin by fools. This idea fascinated me. On the basis of this topic I could make visible and illustrate our fears of nature being destroyed by technical overexploitation or by extinction of life by nuclear disasters. And, apart from that, what is a better symbol than a ship of fools for our art business and the politicians strutting around smugly in it.

The fool´s face with the clamp cap in this context means bad luck anyhow, and the arms of the octopus remind of the snakes an the ancient head of Medusa: a connection of medieval and ancient allegories, which are typical for renaissanve literatur and the epic poem by Brant. As I attached a bejewelled female fool´s head to the stern of the ship as well the ship actually became directionless, foreward and backward finally are the same.  What could more aptly characterise the situation of "progress"?"

"The withered tree of knowledge as the mast of the ship of fools, as an allegory of withered reason, thus brought me to the image of a second expulsion of people and all living things from this earth into nothingness: the central figure of my new design became Death wielding the clap of fools like a scythe, driving Adam and Eve with their little murderer son Cain out of the ship that means the world. I then assigned violence, avarice and resignation to them as allegories of the worst folly. (...)

To death I assigned the hound of hell. From the dead tree - also a symbol for the dying of plants - a crow rises. Plants People and animals leave this ark symbolising the world or are driven out of it. That should be the message."(Jürgen Weber)

Inscription on the north side:

A fool is he who considers it to be a miracle that God now punishes the world and sends plagues and pestilence even though we still are Christians.

(first four lines from God sends Plague and Punishment from The Ship of Fools by Sebastian Brant)

VIOLENCE +TECCHOLOGY AND RESIGNATION

Inscription on the south side:

A fool is he who hears a lot of good things, but nevertheless does not become any wiser, who wishes to gain lots of experience, but  nevertheless does not want to become a better person.

(first four lines from: Fool yesterday as today from the Ship of Fools by Sebastian Brant)

DESTROY LIFE AND THE DEATH LAUGHS HIS HEAD OF:

Literature:

- Das Ehekarussell, Jürgen Weber, Verlag M. Edelmann, Nürnberg, 1985

- Das Narrenschiff, Kunst ohne Kompass, Universitas Verlag, München, 1994

The Ship of Fools

1984 - 1987

Cast: Herbich

Originally the sculpture was designed as a  fountain

(for comparison see Historienbrunnen in Koblenz)

 A fool is he who donates  a memorial, for he will heavily  be criticized  for the endowment, He could have saved the trouble and the money ,

(Kurt Klutentreter)

The Ship of Fools is a scripture by Sebastian Brant from  1495 in which he describes the world  as a ship which is  steered to ruin by fools. This idea fascinated me. On the basis of this topic I could make visible and illustrate our fears of nature being destroyed by technical overexploitation or by extinction of life by nuclear disasters. And, apart from that, what is a better symbol than a ship of fools for our art business and the politicians strutting around smugly in it.

The fool´s face with the clamp cap in this context means bad luck anyhow, and the arms of the octopus remind of the snakes an the ancient head of Medusa: a connection of medieval and ancient allegories, which are typical for renaissanve literatur and the epic poem by Brant. As I attached a bejewelled female fool´s head to the stern of the ship as well the ship actually became directionless, foreward and backward finally are the same.  What could more aptly characterise the situation of "progress"?"

"The withered tree of knowledge as the mast of the ship of fools, as an allegory of withered reason, thus brought me to the image of a second expulsion of people and all living things from this earth into nothingness: the central figure of my new design became Death wielding the clap of fools like a scythe, driving Adam and Eve with their little murderer son Cain out of the ship that means the world. I then assigned violence, avarice and resignation to them as allegories of the worst folly. (...)

To death I assigned the hound of hell. From the dead tree - also a symbol for the dying of plants - a crow rises. Plants People and animals leave this ark symbolising the world or are driven out of it. That should be the message."(Jürgen Weber)

Inscription on the north side:

A fool is he who considers it to be a miracle that God now punishes the world and sends plagues and pestilence even though we still are Christians.

(first four lines from God sends Plague and Punishment from The Ship of Fools by Sebastian Brant)

VIOLENCE +TECCHOLOGY AND RESIGNATION

Inscription on the south side:

A fool is he who hears a lot of good things, but nevertheless does not become any wiser, who wishes to gain lots of experience, but  nevertheless does not want to become a better person.

(first four lines from: Fool yesterday as today from the Ship of Fools by Sebastian Brant)

DESTROY LIFE AND THE DEATH LAUGHS HIS HEAD OF:

Literature:

- Das Ehekarussell, Jürgen Weber, Verlag M. Edelmann, Nürnberg, 1985

- Das Narrenschiff, Kunst ohne Kompass, Universitas Verlag, München, 1994

The Ship of Fools

1984 - 1987

Cast: Herbich

Originally the sculpture was designed as a  fountain

(for comparison see Historienbrunnen in Koblenz)

 A fool is he who donates  a memorial, for he will heavily  be criticized  for the endowment, He could have saved the trouble and the money ,

(Kurt Klutentreter)

The Ship of Fools is a scripture by Sebastian Brant from  1495 in which he describes the world  as a ship which is  steered to ruin by fools. This idea fascinated me. On the basis of this topic I could make visible and illustrate our fears of nature being destroyed by technical overexploitation or by extinction of life by nuclear disasters. And, apart from that, what is a better symbol than a ship of fools for our art business and the politicians strutting around smugly in it.

The fool´s face with the clamp cap in this context means bad luck anyhow, and the arms of the octopus remind of the snakes an the ancient head of Medusa: a connection of medieval and ancient allegories, which are typical for renaissanve literatur and the epic poem by Brant. As I attached a bejewelled female fool´s head to the stern of the ship as well the ship actually became directionless, foreward and backward finally are the same.  What could more aptly characterise the situation of "progress"?"

"The withered tree of knowledge as the mast of the ship of fools, as an allegory of withered reason, thus brought me to the image of a second expulsion of people and all living things from this earth into nothingness: the central figure of my new design became Death wielding the clap of fools like a scythe, driving Adam and Eve with their little murderer son Cain out of the ship that means the world. I then assigned violence, avarice and resignation to them as allegories of the worst folly. (...)

To death I assigned the hound of hell. From the dead tree - also a symbol for the dying of plants - a crow rises. Plants People and animals leave this ark symbolising the world or are driven out of it. That should be the message."(Jürgen Weber)

Inscription on the north side:

A fool is he who considers it to be a miracle that God now punishes the world and sends plagues and pestilence even though we still are Christians.

(first four lines from God sends Plague and Punishment from The Ship of Fools by Sebastian Brant)

VIOLENCE +TECCHOLOGY AND RESIGNATION

Inscription on the south side:

A fool is he who hears a lot of good things, but nevertheless does not become any wiser, who wishes to gain lots of experience, but  nevertheless does not want to become a better person.

(first four lines from: Fool yesterday as today from the Ship of Fools by Sebastian Brant)

DESTROY LIFE AND THE DEATH LAUGHS HIS HEAD OF:

Literature:

- Das Ehekarussell, Jürgen Weber, Verlag M. Edelmann, Nürnberg, 1985

- Das Narrenschiff, Kunst ohne Kompass, Universitas Verlag, München, 1994

The Ship of Fools

1984 - 1987

Cast: Herbich

Originally the sculpture was designed as a  fountain

(for comparison see Historienbrunnen in Koblenz)

 A fool is he who donates  a memorial, for he will heavily  be criticized  for the endowment, He could have saved the trouble and the money ,

(Kurt Klutentreter)

The Ship of Fools is a scripture by Sebastian Brant from  1495 in which he describes the world  as a ship which is  steered to ruin by fools. This idea fascinated me. On the basis of this topic I could make visible and illustrate our fears of nature being destroyed by technical overexploitation or by extinction of life by nuclear disasters. And, apart from that, what is a better symbol than a ship of fools for our art business and the politicians strutting around smugly in it.

The fool´s face with the clamp cap in this context means bad luck anyhow, and the arms of the octopus remind of the snakes an the ancient head of Medusa: a connection of medieval and ancient allegories, which are typical for renaissanve literatur and the epic poem by Brant. As I attached a bejewelled female fool´s head to the stern of the ship as well the ship actually became directionless, foreward and backward finally are the same.  What could more aptly characterise the situation of "progress"?"

"The withered tree of knowledge as the mast of the ship of fools, as an allegory of withered reason, thus brought me to the image of a second expulsion of people and all living things from this earth into nothingness: the central figure of my new design became Death wielding the clap of fools like a scythe, driving Adam and Eve with their little murderer son Cain out of the ship that means the world. I then assigned violence, avarice and resignation to them as allegories of the worst folly. (...)

To death I assigned the hound of hell. From the dead tree - also a symbol for the dying of plants - a crow rises. Plants People and animals leave this ark symbolising the world or are driven out of it. That should be the message."(Jürgen Weber)

Inscription on the north side:

A fool is he who considers it to be a miracle that God now punishes the world and sends plagues and pestilence even though we still are Christians.

(first four lines from God sends Plague and Punishment from The Ship of Fools by Sebastian Brant)

VIOLENCE +TECCHOLOGY AND RESIGNATION

Inscription on the south side:

A fool is he who hears a lot of good things, but nevertheless does not become any wiser, who wishes to gain lots of experience, but  nevertheless does not want to become a better person.

(first four lines from: Fool yesterday as today from the Ship of Fools by Sebastian Brant)

DESTROY LIFE AND THE DEATH LAUGHS HIS HEAD OF:

Literature:

- Das Ehekarussell, Jürgen Weber, Verlag M. Edelmann, Nürnberg, 1985

- Das Narrenschiff, Kunst ohne Kompass, Universitas Verlag, München, 1994

The Ship of Fools

1984 - 1987

Cast: Herbich

Originally the sculpture was designed as a  fountain

(for comparison see Historienbrunnen in Koblenz)

 A fool is he who donates  a memorial, for he will heavily  be criticized  for the endowment, He could have saved the trouble and the money ,

(Kurt Klutentreter)

The Ship of Fools is a scripture by Sebastian Brant from  1495 in which he describes the world  as a ship which is  steered to ruin by fools. This idea fascinated me. On the basis of this topic I could make visible and illustrate our fears of nature being destroyed by technical overexploitation or by extinction of life by nuclear disasters. And, apart from that, what is a better symbol than a ship of fools for our art business and the politicians strutting around smugly in it.

The fool´s face with the clamp cap in this context means bad luck anyhow, and the arms of the octopus remind of the snakes an the ancient head of Medusa: a connection of medieval and ancient allegories, which are typical for renaissanve literatur and the epic poem by Brant. As I attached a bejewelled female fool´s head to the stern of the ship as well the ship actually became directionless, foreward and backward finally are the same.  What could more aptly characterise the situation of "progress"?"

"The withered tree of knowledge as the mast of the ship of fools, as an allegory of withered reason, thus brought me to the image of a second expulsion of people and all living things from this earth into nothingness: the central figure of my new design became Death wielding the clap of fools like a scythe, driving Adam and Eve with their little murderer son Cain out of the ship that means the world. I then assigned violence, avarice and resignation to them as allegories of the worst folly. (...)

To death I assigned the hound of hell. From the dead tree - also a symbol for the dying of plants - a crow rises. Plants People and animals leave this ark symbolising the world or are driven out of it. That should be the message."(Jürgen Weber)

Inscription on the north side:

A fool is he who considers it to be a miracle that God now punishes the world and sends plagues and pestilence even though we still are Christians.

(first four lines from God sends Plague and Punishment from The Ship of Fools by Sebastian Brant)

VIOLENCE +TECCHOLOGY AND RESIGNATION

Inscription on the south side:

A fool is he who hears a lot of good things, but nevertheless does not become any wiser, who wishes to gain lots of experience, but  nevertheless does not want to become a better person.

(first four lines from: Fool yesterday as today from the Ship of Fools by Sebastian Brant)

DESTROY LIFE AND THE DEATH LAUGHS HIS HEAD OF:

Literature:

- Das Ehekarussell, Jürgen Weber, Verlag M. Edelmann, Nürnberg, 1985

- Das Narrenschiff, Kunst ohne Kompass, Universitas Verlag, München, 1994

The Ship of Fools

1984 - 1987

Cast: Herbich

Originally the sculpture was designed as a  fountain

(for comparison see Historienbrunnen in Koblenz)

 A fool is he who donates  a memorial, for he will heavily  be criticized  for the endowment, He could have saved the trouble and the money ,

(Kurt Klutentreter)

The Ship of Fools is a scripture by Sebastian Brant from  1495 in which he describes the world  as a ship which is  steered to ruin by fools. This idea fascinated me. On the basis of this topic I could make visible and illustrate our fears of nature being destroyed by technical overexploitation or by extinction of life by nuclear disasters. And, apart from that, what is a better symbol than a ship of fools for our art business and the politicians strutting around smugly in it.

The fool´s face with the clamp cap in this context means bad luck anyhow, and the arms of the octopus remind of the snakes an the ancient head of Medusa: a connection of medieval and ancient allegories, which are typical for renaissanve literatur and the epic poem by Brant. As I attached a bejewelled female fool´s head to the stern of the ship as well the ship actually became directionless, foreward and backward finally are the same.  What could more aptly characterise the situation of "progress"?"

"The withered tree of knowledge as the mast of the ship of fools, as an allegory of withered reason, thus brought me to the image of a second expulsion of people and all living things from this earth into nothingness: the central figure of my new design became Death wielding the clap of fools like a scythe, driving Adam and Eve with their little murderer son Cain out of the ship that means the world. I then assigned violence, avarice and resignation to them as allegories of the worst folly. (...)

To death I assigned the hound of hell. From the dead tree - also a symbol for the dying of plants - a crow rises. Plants People and animals leave this ark symbolising the world or are driven out of it. That should be the message."(Jürgen Weber)

Inscription on the north side:

A fool is he who considers it to be a miracle that God now punishes the world and sends plagues and pestilence even though we still are Christians.

(first four lines from God sends Plague and Punishment from The Ship of Fools by Sebastian Brant)

VIOLENCE +TECCHOLOGY AND RESIGNATION

Inscription on the south side:

A fool is he who hears a lot of good things, but nevertheless does not become any wiser, who wishes to gain lots of experience, but  nevertheless does not want to become a better person.

(first four lines from: Fool yesterday as today from the Ship of Fools by Sebastian Brant)

DESTROY LIFE AND THE DEATH LAUGHS HIS HEAD OF:

Literature:

- Das Ehekarussell, Jürgen Weber, Verlag M. Edelmann, Nürnberg, 1985

- Das Narrenschiff, Kunst ohne Kompass, Universitas Verlag, München, 1994

The Ship of Fools

1984 - 1987

Cast: Herbich

Originally the sculpture was designed as a  fountain

(for comparison see Historienbrunnen in Koblenz)

 A fool is he who donates  a memorial, for he will heavily  be criticized  for the endowment, He could have saved the trouble and the money ,

(Kurt Klutentreter)

The Ship of Fools is a scripture by Sebastian Brant from  1495 in which he describes the world  as a ship which is  steered to ruin by fools. This idea fascinated me. On the basis of this topic I could make visible and illustrate our fears of nature being destroyed by technical overexploitation or by extinction of life by nuclear disasters. And, apart from that, what is a better symbol than a ship of fools for our art business and the politicians strutting around smugly in it.

The fool´s face with the clamp cap in this context means bad luck anyhow, and the arms of the octopus remind of the snakes an the ancient head of Medusa: a connection of medieval and ancient allegories, which are typical for renaissanve literatur and the epic poem by Brant. As I attached a bejewelled female fool´s head to the stern of the ship as well the ship actually became directionless, foreward and backward finally are the same.  What could more aptly characterise the situation of "progress"?"

"The withered tree of knowledge as the mast of the ship of fools, as an allegory of withered reason, thus brought me to the image of a second expulsion of people and all living things from this earth into nothingness: the central figure of my new design became Death wielding the clap of fools like a scythe, driving Adam and Eve with their little murderer son Cain out of the ship that means the world. I then assigned violence, avarice and resignation to them as allegories of the worst folly. (...)

To death I assigned the hound of hell. From the dead tree - also a symbol for the dying of plants - a crow rises. Plants People and animals leave this ark symbolising the world or are driven out of it. That should be the message."(Jürgen Weber)

Inscription on the north side:

A fool is he who considers it to be a miracle that God now punishes the world and sends plagues and pestilence even though we still are Christians.

(first four lines from God sends Plague and Punishment from The Ship of Fools by Sebastian Brant)

VIOLENCE +TECCHOLOGY AND RESIGNATION

Inscription on the south side:

A fool is he who hears a lot of good things, but nevertheless does not become any wiser, who wishes to gain lots of experience, but  nevertheless does not want to become a better person.

(first four lines from: Fool yesterday as today from the Ship of Fools by Sebastian Brant)

DESTROY LIFE AND THE DEATH LAUGHS HIS HEAD OF:

Literature:

- Das Ehekarussell, Jürgen Weber, Verlag M. Edelmann, Nürnberg, 1985

- Das Narrenschiff, Kunst ohne Kompass, Universitas Verlag, München, 1994

The Ship of Fools

1984 - 1987

Cast: Herbich

Originally the sculpture was designed as a  fountain

(for comparison see Historienbrunnen in Koblenz)

 A fool is he who donates  a memorial, for he will heavily  be criticized  for the endowment, He could have saved the trouble and the money ,

(Kurt Klutentreter)

The Ship of Fools is a scripture by Sebastian Brant from  1495 in which he describes the world  as a ship which is  steered to ruin by fools. This idea fascinated me. On the basis of this topic I could make visible and illustrate our fears of nature being destroyed by technical overexploitation or by extinction of life by nuclear disasters. And, apart from that, what is a better symbol than a ship of fools for our art business and the politicians strutting around smugly in it.

The fool´s face with the clamp cap in this context means bad luck anyhow, and the arms of the octopus remind of the snakes an the ancient head of Medusa: a connection of medieval and ancient allegories, which are typical for renaissanve literatur and the epic poem by Brant. As I attached a bejewelled female fool´s head to the stern of the ship as well the ship actually became directionless, foreward and backward finally are the same.  What could more aptly characterise the situation of "progress"?"

"The withered tree of knowledge as the mast of the ship of fools, as an allegory of withered reason, thus brought me to the image of a second expulsion of people and all living things from this earth into nothingness: the central figure of my new design became Death wielding the clap of fools like a scythe, driving Adam and Eve with their little murderer son Cain out of the ship that means the world. I then assigned violence, avarice and resignation to them as allegories of the worst folly. (...)

To death I assigned the hound of hell. From the dead tree - also a symbol for the dying of plants - a crow rises. Plants People and animals leave this ark symbolising the world or are driven out of it. That should be the message."(Jürgen Weber)

Inscription on the north side:

A fool is he who considers it to be a miracle that God now punishes the world and sends plagues and pestilence even though we still are Christians.

(first four lines from God sends Plague and Punishment from The Ship of Fools by Sebastian Brant)

VIOLENCE +TECCHOLOGY AND RESIGNATION

Inscription on the south side:

A fool is he who hears a lot of good things, but nevertheless does not become any wiser, who wishes to gain lots of experience, but  nevertheless does not want to become a better person.

(first four lines from: Fool yesterday as today from the Ship of Fools by Sebastian Brant)

DESTROY LIFE AND THE DEATH LAUGHS HIS HEAD OF:

Literature:

- Das Ehekarussell, Jürgen Weber, Verlag M. Edelmann, Nürnberg, 1985

- Das Narrenschiff, Kunst ohne Kompass, Universitas Verlag, München, 1994

The Ship of Fools

1984 - 1987

Cast: Herbich

Originally the sculpture was designed as a  fountain

(for comparison see Historienbrunnen in Koblenz)

 A fool is he who donates  a memorial, for he will heavily  be criticized  for the endowment, He could have saved the trouble and the money ,

(Kurt Klutentreter)

The Ship of Fools is a scripture by Sebastian Brant from  1495 in which he describes the world  as a ship which is  steered to ruin by fools. This idea fascinated me. On the basis of this topic I could make visible and illustrate our fears of nature being destroyed by technical overexploitation or by extinction of life by nuclear disasters. And, apart from that, what is a better symbol than a ship of fools for our art business and the politicians strutting around smugly in it.

The fool´s face with the clamp cap in this context means bad luck anyhow, and the arms of the octopus remind of the snakes an the ancient head of Medusa: a connection of medieval and ancient allegories, which are typical for renaissanve literatur and the epic poem by Brant. As I attached a bejewelled female fool´s head to the stern of the ship as well the ship actually became directionless, foreward and backward finally are the same.  What could more aptly characterise the situation of "progress"?"

"The withered tree of knowledge as the mast of the ship of fools, as an allegory of withered reason, thus brought me to the image of a second expulsion of people and all living things from this earth into nothingness: the central figure of my new design became Death wielding the clap of fools like a scythe, driving Adam and Eve with their little murderer son Cain out of the ship that means the world. I then assigned violence, avarice and resignation to them as allegories of the worst folly. (...)

To death I assigned the hound of hell. From the dead tree - also a symbol for the dying of plants - a crow rises. Plants People and animals leave this ark symbolising the world or are driven out of it. That should be the message."(Jürgen Weber)

Inscription on the north side:

A fool is he who considers it to be a miracle that God now punishes the world and sends plagues and pestilence even though we still are Christians.

(first four lines from God sends Plague and Punishment from The Ship of Fools by Sebastian Brant)

VIOLENCE +TECCHOLOGY AND RESIGNATION

Inscription on the south side:

A fool is he who hears a lot of good things, but nevertheless does not become any wiser, who wishes to gain lots of experience, but  nevertheless does not want to become a better person.

(first four lines from: Fool yesterday as today from the Ship of Fools by Sebastian Brant)

DESTROY LIFE AND THE DEATH LAUGHS HIS HEAD OF:

Literature:

- Das Ehekarussell, Jürgen Weber, Verlag M. Edelmann, Nürnberg, 1985

- Das Narrenschiff, Kunst ohne Kompass, Universitas Verlag, München, 1994

The Ship of Fools

1984 - 1987

Cast: Herbich

Originally the sculpture was designed as a  fountain

(for comparison see Historienbrunnen in Koblenz)

 A fool is he who donates  a memorial, for he will heavily  be criticized  for the endowment, He could have saved the trouble and the money ,

(Kurt Klutentreter)

The Ship of Fools is a scripture by Sebastian Brant from  1495 in which he describes the world  as a ship which is  steered to ruin by fools. This idea fascinated me. On the basis of this topic I could make visible and illustrate our fears of nature being destroyed by technical overexploitation or by extinction of life by nuclear disasters. And, apart from that, what is a better symbol than a ship of fools for our art business and the politicians strutting around smugly in it.

The fool´s face with the clamp cap in this context means bad luck anyhow, and the arms of the octopus remind of the snakes an the ancient head of Medusa: a connection of medieval and ancient allegories, which are typical for renaissanve literatur and the epic poem by Brant. As I attached a bejewelled female fool´s head to the stern of the ship as well the ship actually became directionless, foreward and backward finally are the same.  What could more aptly characterise the situation of "progress"?"

"The withered tree of knowledge as the mast of the ship of fools, as an allegory of withered reason, thus brought me to the image of a second expulsion of people and all living things from this earth into nothingness: the central figure of my new design became Death wielding the clap of fools like a scythe, driving Adam and Eve with their little murderer son Cain out of the ship that means the world. I then assigned violence, avarice and resignation to them as allegories of the worst folly. (...)

To death I assigned the hound of hell. From the dead tree - also a symbol for the dying of plants - a crow rises. Plants People and animals leave this ark symbolising the world or are driven out of it. That should be the message."(Jürgen Weber)

Inscription on the north side:

A fool is he who considers it to be a miracle that God now punishes the world and sends plagues and pestilence even though we still are Christians.

(first four lines from God sends Plague and Punishment from The Ship of Fools by Sebastian Brant)

VIOLENCE +TECCHOLOGY AND RESIGNATION

Inscription on the south side:

A fool is he who hears a lot of good things, but nevertheless does not become any wiser, who wishes to gain lots of experience, but  nevertheless does not want to become a better person.

(first four lines from: Fool yesterday as today from the Ship of Fools by Sebastian Brant)

DESTROY LIFE AND THE DEATH LAUGHS HIS HEAD OF:

Literature:

- Das Ehekarussell, Jürgen Weber, Verlag M. Edelmann, Nürnberg, 1985

- Das Narrenschiff, Kunst ohne Kompass, Universitas Verlag, München, 1994

The Ship of Fools

1984 - 1987

Cast: Herbich

Originally the sculpture was designed as a  fountain

(for comparison see Historienbrunnen in Koblenz)

 A fool is he who donates  a memorial, for he will heavily  be criticized  for the endowment, He could have saved the trouble and the money ,

(Kurt Klutentreter)

The Ship of Fools is a scripture by Sebastian Brant from  1495 in which he describes the world  as a ship which is  steered to ruin by fools. This idea fascinated me. On the basis of this topic I could make visible and illustrate our fears of nature being destroyed by technical overexploitation or by extinction of life by nuclear disasters. And, apart from that, what is a better symbol than a ship of fools for our art business and the politicians strutting around smugly in it.

The fool´s face with the clamp cap in this context means bad luck anyhow, and the arms of the octopus remind of the snakes an the ancient head of Medusa: a connection of medieval and ancient allegories, which are typical for renaissanve literatur and the epic poem by Brant. As I attached a bejewelled female fool´s head to the stern of the ship as well the ship actually became directionless, foreward and backward finally are the same.  What could more aptly characterise the situation of "progress"?"

"The withered tree of knowledge as the mast of the ship of fools, as an allegory of withered reason, thus brought me to the image of a second expulsion of people and all living things from this earth into nothingness: the central figure of my new design became Death wielding the clap of fools like a scythe, driving Adam and Eve with their little murderer son Cain out of the ship that means the world. I then assigned violence, avarice and resignation to them as allegories of the worst folly. (...)

To death I assigned the hound of hell. From the dead tree - also a symbol for the dying of plants - a crow rises. Plants People and animals leave this ark symbolising the world or are driven out of it. That should be the message."(Jürgen Weber)

Inscription on the north side:

A fool is he who considers it to be a miracle that God now punishes the world and sends plagues and pestilence even though we still are Christians.

(first four lines from God sends Plague and Punishment from The Ship of Fools by Sebastian Brant)

VIOLENCE +TECCHOLOGY AND RESIGNATION

Inscription on the south side:

A fool is he who hears a lot of good things, but nevertheless does not become any wiser, who wishes to gain lots of experience, but  nevertheless does not want to become a better person.

(first four lines from: Fool yesterday as today from the Ship of Fools by Sebastian Brant)

DESTROY LIFE AND THE DEATH LAUGHS HIS HEAD OF:

Literature:

- Das Ehekarussell, Jürgen Weber, Verlag M. Edelmann, Nürnberg, 1985

- Das Narrenschiff, Kunst ohne Kompass, Universitas Verlag, München, 1994

The Ship of Fools

1984 - 1987

Cast: Herbich

Originally the sculpture was designed as a  fountain

(for comparison see Historienbrunnen in Koblenz)

 A fool is he who donates  a memorial, for he will heavily  be criticized  for the endowment, He could have saved the trouble and the money ,

(Kurt Klutentreter)

The Ship of Fools is a scripture by Sebastian Brant from  1495 in which he describes the world  as a ship which is  steered to ruin by fools. This idea fascinated me. On the basis of this topic I could make visible and illustrate our fears of nature being destroyed by technical overexploitation or by extinction of life by nuclear disasters. And, apart from that, what is a better symbol than a ship of fools for our art business and the politicians strutting around smugly in it.

The fool´s face with the clamp cap in this context means bad luck anyhow, and the arms of the octopus remind of the snakes an the ancient head of Medusa: a connection of medieval and ancient allegories, which are typical for renaissanve literatur and the epic poem by Brant. As I attached a bejewelled female fool´s head to the stern of the ship as well the ship actually became directionless, foreward and backward finally are the same.  What could more aptly characterise the situation of "progress"?"

"The withered tree of knowledge as the mast of the ship of fools, as an allegory of withered reason, thus brought me to the image of a second expulsion of people and all living things from this earth into nothingness: the central figure of my new design became Death wielding the clap of fools like a scythe, driving Adam and Eve with their little murderer son Cain out of the ship that means the world. I then assigned violence, avarice and resignation to them as allegories of the worst folly. (...)

To death I assigned the hound of hell. From the dead tree - also a symbol for the dying of plants - a crow rises. Plants People and animals leave this ark symbolising the world or are driven out of it. That should be the message."(Jürgen Weber)

Inscription on the north side:

A fool is he who considers it to be a miracle that God now punishes the world and sends plagues and pestilence even though we still are Christians.

(first four lines from God sends Plague and Punishment from The Ship of Fools by Sebastian Brant)

VIOLENCE +TECCHOLOGY AND RESIGNATION

Inscription on the south side:

A fool is he who hears a lot of good things, but nevertheless does not become any wiser, who wishes to gain lots of experience, but  nevertheless does not want to become a better person.

(first four lines from: Fool yesterday as today from the Ship of Fools by Sebastian Brant)

DESTROY LIFE AND THE DEATH LAUGHS HIS HEAD OF:

Literature:

- Das Ehekarussell, Jürgen Weber, Verlag M. Edelmann, Nürnberg, 1985

- Das Narrenschiff, Kunst ohne Kompass, Universitas Verlag, München, 1994

The Ship of Fools

1984 - 1987

Cast: Herbich

Originally the sculpture was designed as a  fountain

(for comparison see Historienbrunnen in Koblenz)

 A fool is he who donates  a memorial, for he will heavily  be criticized  for the endowment, He could have saved the trouble and the money ,

(Kurt Klutentreter)

The Ship of Fools is a scripture by Sebastian Brant from  1495 in which he describes the world  as a ship which is  steered to ruin by fools. This idea fascinated me. On the basis of this topic I could make visible and illustrate our fears of nature being destroyed by technical overexploitation or by extinction of life by nuclear disasters. And, apart from that, what is a better symbol than a ship of fools for our art business and the politicians strutting around smugly in it.

The fool´s face with the clamp cap in this context means bad luck anyhow, and the arms of the octopus remind of the snakes an the ancient head of Medusa: a connection of medieval and ancient allegories, which are typical for renaissanve literatur and the epic poem by Brant. As I attached a bejewelled female fool´s head to the stern of the ship as well the ship actually became directionless, foreward and backward finally are the same.  What could more aptly characterise the situation of "progress"?"

"The withered tree of knowledge as the mast of the ship of fools, as an allegory of withered reason, thus brought me to the image of a second expulsion of people and all living things from this earth into nothingness: the central figure of my new design became Death wielding the clap of fools like a scythe, driving Adam and Eve with their little murderer son Cain out of the ship that means the world. I then assigned violence, avarice and resignation to them as allegories of the worst folly. (...)

To death I assigned the hound of hell. From the dead tree - also a symbol for the dying of plants - a crow rises. Plants People and animals leave this ark symbolising the world or are driven out of it. That should be the message."(Jürgen Weber)

Inscription on the north side:

A fool is he who considers it to be a miracle that God now punishes the world and sends plagues and pestilence even though we still are Christians.

(first four lines from God sends Plague and Punishment from The Ship of Fools by Sebastian Brant)

VIOLENCE +TECCHOLOGY AND RESIGNATION

Inscription on the south side:

A fool is he who hears a lot of good things, but nevertheless does not become any wiser, who wishes to gain lots of experience, but  nevertheless does not want to become a better person.

(first four lines from: Fool yesterday as today from the Ship of Fools by Sebastian Brant)

DESTROY LIFE AND THE DEATH LAUGHS HIS HEAD OF:

Literature:

- Das Ehekarussell, Jürgen Weber, Verlag M. Edelmann, Nürnberg, 1985

- Das Narrenschiff, Kunst ohne Kompass, Universitas Verlag, München, 1994

The Ship of Fools

1984 - 1987

Cast: Herbich

Originally the sculpture was designed as a  fountain

(for comparison see Historienbrunnen in Koblenz)

 A fool is he who donates  a memorial, for he will heavily  be criticized  for the endowment, He could have saved the trouble and the money ,

(Kurt Klutentreter)

The Ship of Fools is a scripture by Sebastian Brant from  1495 in which he describes the world  as a ship which is  steered to ruin by fools. This idea fascinated me. On the basis of this topic I could make visible and illustrate our fears of nature being destroyed by technical overexploitation or by extinction of life by nuclear disasters. And, apart from that, what is a better symbol than a ship of fools for our art business and the politicians strutting around smugly in it.

The fool´s face with the clamp cap in this context means bad luck anyhow, and the arms of the octopus remind of the snakes an the ancient head of Medusa: a connection of medieval and ancient allegories, which are typical for renaissanve literatur and the epic poem by Brant. As I attached a bejewelled female fool´s head to the stern of the ship as well the ship actually became directionless, foreward and backward finally are the same.  What could more aptly characterise the situation of "progress"?"

"The withered tree of knowledge as the mast of the ship of fools, as an allegory of withered reason, thus brought me to the image of a second expulsion of people and all living things from this earth into nothingness: the central figure of my new design became Death wielding the clap of fools like a scythe, driving Adam and Eve with their little murderer son Cain out of the ship that means the world. I then assigned violence, avarice and resignation to them as allegories of the worst folly. (...)

To death I assigned the hound of hell. From the dead tree - also a symbol for the dying of plants - a crow rises. Plants People and animals leave this ark symbolising the world or are driven out of it. That should be the message."(Jürgen Weber)

Inscription on the north side:

A fool is he who considers it to be a miracle that God now punishes the world and sends plagues and pestilence even though we still are Christians.

(first four lines from God sends Plague and Punishment from The Ship of Fools by Sebastian Brant)

VIOLENCE +TECCHOLOGY AND RESIGNATION

Inscription on the south side:

A fool is he who hears a lot of good things, but nevertheless does not become any wiser, who wishes to gain lots of experience, but  nevertheless does not want to become a better person.

(first four lines from: Fool yesterday as today from the Ship of Fools by Sebastian Brant)

DESTROY LIFE AND THE DEATH LAUGHS HIS HEAD OF:

Literature:

- Das Ehekarussell, Jürgen Weber, Verlag M. Edelmann, Nürnberg, 1985

- Das Narrenschiff, Kunst ohne Kompass, Universitas Verlag, München, 1994

The Ship of Fools

1984 - 1987

Cast: Herbich

Originally the sculpture was designed as a  fountain

(for comparison see Historienbrunnen in Koblenz)

 A fool is he who donates  a memorial, for he will heavily  be criticized  for the endowment, He could have saved the trouble and the money ,

(Kurt Klutentreter)

The Ship of Fools is a scripture by Sebastian Brant from  1495 in which he describes the world  as a ship which is  steered to ruin by fools. This idea fascinated me. On the basis of this topic I could make visible and illustrate our fears of nature being destroyed by technical overexploitation or by extinction of life by nuclear disasters. And, apart from that, what is a better symbol than a ship of fools for our art business and the politicians strutting around smugly in it.

The fool´s face with the clamp cap in this context means bad luck anyhow, and the arms of the octopus remind of the snakes an the ancient head of Medusa: a connection of medieval and ancient allegories, which are typical for renaissanve literatur and the epic poem by Brant. As I attached a bejewelled female fool´s head to the stern of the ship as well the ship actually became directionless, foreward and backward finally are the same.  What could more aptly characterise the situation of "progress"?"

"The withered tree of knowledge as the mast of the ship of fools, as an allegory of withered reason, thus brought me to the image of a second expulsion of people and all living things from this earth into nothingness: the central figure of my new design became Death wielding the clap of fools like a scythe, driving Adam and Eve with their little murderer son Cain out of the ship that means the world. I then assigned violence, avarice and resignation to them as allegories of the worst folly. (...)

To death I assigned the hound of hell. From the dead tree - also a symbol for the dying of plants - a crow rises. Plants People and animals leave this ark symbolising the world or are driven out of it. That should be the message."(Jürgen Weber)

Inscription on the north side:

A fool is he who considers it to be a miracle that God now punishes the world and sends plagues and pestilence even though we still are Christians.

(first four lines from God sends Plague and Punishment from The Ship of Fools by Sebastian Brant)

VIOLENCE +TECCHOLOGY AND RESIGNATION

Inscription on the south side:

A fool is he who hears a lot of good things, but nevertheless does not become any wiser, who wishes to gain lots of experience, but  nevertheless does not want to become a better person.

(first four lines from: Fool yesterday as today from the Ship of Fools by Sebastian Brant)

DESTROY LIFE AND THE DEATH LAUGHS HIS HEAD OF:

Literature:

- Das Ehekarussell, Jürgen Weber, Verlag M. Edelmann, Nürnberg, 1985

- Das Narrenschiff, Kunst ohne Kompass, Universitas Verlag, München, 1994

The Ship of Fools

1984 - 1987

Cast: Herbich

Originally the sculpture was designed as a  fountain

(for comparison see Historienbrunnen in Koblenz)

 A fool is he who donates  a memorial, for he will heavily  be criticized  for the endowment, He could have saved the trouble and the money ,

(Kurt Klutentreter)

The Ship of Fools is a scripture by Sebastian Brant from  1495 in which he describes the world  as a ship which is  steered to ruin by fools. This idea fascinated me. On the basis of this topic I could make visible and illustrate our fears of nature being destroyed by technical overexploitation or by extinction of life by nuclear disasters. And, apart from that, what is a better symbol than a ship of fools for our art business and the politicians strutting around smugly in it.

The fool´s face with the clamp cap in this context means bad luck anyhow, and the arms of the octopus remind of the snakes an the ancient head of Medusa: a connection of medieval and ancient allegories, which are typical for renaissanve literatur and the epic poem by Brant. As I attached a bejewelled female fool´s head to the stern of the ship as well the ship actually became directionless, foreward and backward finally are the same.  What could more aptly characterise the situation of "progress"?"

"The withered tree of knowledge as the mast of the ship of fools, as an allegory of withered reason, thus brought me to the image of a second expulsion of people and all living things from this earth into nothingness: the central figure of my new design became Death wielding the clap of fools like a scythe, driving Adam and Eve with their little murderer son Cain out of the ship that means the world. I then assigned violence, avarice and resignation to them as allegories of the worst folly. (...)

To death I assigned the hound of hell. From the dead tree - also a symbol for the dying of plants - a crow rises. Plants People and animals leave this ark symbolising the world or are driven out of it. That should be the message."(Jürgen Weber)

Inscription on the north side:

A fool is he who considers it to be a miracle that God now punishes the world and sends plagues and pestilence even though we still are Christians.

(first four lines from God sends Plague and Punishment from The Ship of Fools by Sebastian Brant)

VIOLENCE +TECCHOLOGY AND RESIGNATION

Inscription on the south side:

A fool is he who hears a lot of good things, but nevertheless does not become any wiser, who wishes to gain lots of experience, but  nevertheless does not want to become a better person.

(first four lines from: Fool yesterday as today from the Ship of Fools by Sebastian Brant)

DESTROY LIFE AND THE DEATH LAUGHS HIS HEAD OF:

Literature:

- Das Ehekarussell, Jürgen Weber, Verlag M. Edelmann, Nürnberg, 1985

- Das Narrenschiff, Kunst ohne Kompass, Universitas Verlag, München, 1994

The Ship of Fools

1984 - 1987

Cast: Herbich

Originally the sculpture was designed as a  fountain

(for comparison see Historienbrunnen in Koblenz)

 A fool is he who donates  a memorial, for he will heavily  be criticized  for the endowment, He could have saved the trouble and the money ,

(Kurt Klutentreter)

The Ship of Fools is a scripture by Sebastian Brant from  1495 in which he describes the world  as a ship which is  steered to ruin by fools. This idea fascinated me. On the basis of this topic I could make visible and illustrate our fears of nature being destroyed by technical overexploitation or by extinction of life by nuclear disasters. And, apart from that, what is a better symbol than a ship of fools for our art business and the politicians strutting around smugly in it.

The fool´s face with the clamp cap in this context means bad luck anyhow, and the arms of the octopus remind of the snakes an the ancient head of Medusa: a connection of medieval and ancient allegories, which are typical for renaissanve literatur and the epic poem by Brant. As I attached a bejewelled female fool´s head to the stern of the ship as well the ship actually became directionless, foreward and backward finally are the same.  What could more aptly characterise the situation of "progress"?"

"The withered tree of knowledge as the mast of the ship of fools, as an allegory of withered reason, thus brought me to the image of a second expulsion of people and all living things from this earth into nothingness: the central figure of my new design became Death wielding the clap of fools like a scythe, driving Adam and Eve with their little murderer son Cain out of the ship that means the world. I then assigned violence, avarice and resignation to them as allegories of the worst folly. (...)

To death I assigned the hound of hell. From the dead tree - also a symbol for the dying of plants - a crow rises. Plants People and animals leave this ark symbolising the world or are driven out of it. That should be the message."(Jürgen Weber)

Inscription on the north side:

A fool is he who considers it to be a miracle that God now punishes the world and sends plagues and pestilence even though we still are Christians.

(first four lines from God sends Plague and Punishment from The Ship of Fools by Sebastian Brant)

VIOLENCE +TECCHOLOGY AND RESIGNATION

Inscription on the south side:

A fool is he who hears a lot of good things, but nevertheless does not become any wiser, who wishes to gain lots of experience, but  nevertheless does not want to become a better person.

(first four lines from: Fool yesterday as today from the Ship of Fools by Sebastian Brant)

DESTROY LIFE AND THE DEATH LAUGHS HIS HEAD OF:

Literature:

- Das Ehekarussell, Jürgen Weber, Verlag M. Edelmann, Nürnberg, 1985

- Das Narrenschiff, Kunst ohne Kompass, Universitas Verlag, München, 1994

The Ship of Fools

1984 - 1987

Cast: Herbich

Originally the sculpture was designed as a  fountain

(for comparison see Historienbrunnen in Koblenz)

 A fool is he who donates  a memorial, for he will heavily  be criticized  for the endowment, He could have saved the trouble and the money ,

(Kurt Klutentreter)

The Ship of Fools is a scripture by Sebastian Brant from  1495 in which he describes the world  as a ship which is  steered to ruin by fools. This idea fascinated me. On the basis of this topic I could make visible and illustrate our fears of nature being destroyed by technical overexploitation or by extinction of life by nuclear disasters. And, apart from that, what is a better symbol than a ship of fools for our art business and the politicians strutting around smugly in it.

The fool´s face with the clamp cap in this context means bad luck anyhow, and the arms of the octopus remind of the snakes an the ancient head of Medusa: a connection of medieval and ancient allegories, which are typical for renaissanve literatur and the epic poem by Brant. As I attached a bejewelled female fool´s head to the stern of the ship as well the ship actually became directionless, foreward and backward finally are the same.  What could more aptly characterise the situation of "progress"?"

"The withered tree of knowledge as the mast of the ship of fools, as an allegory of withered reason, thus brought me to the image of a second expulsion of people and all living things from this earth into nothingness: the central figure of my new design became Death wielding the clap of fools like a scythe, driving Adam and Eve with their little murderer son Cain out of the ship that means the world. I then assigned violence, avarice and resignation to them as allegories of the worst folly. (...)

To death I assigned the hound of hell. From the dead tree - also a symbol for the dying of plants - a crow rises. Plants People and animals leave this ark symbolising the world or are driven out of it. That should be the message."(Jürgen Weber)

Inscription on the north side:

A fool is he who considers it to be a miracle that God now punishes the world and sends plagues and pestilence even though we still are Christians.

(first four lines from God sends Plague and Punishment from The Ship of Fools by Sebastian Brant)

VIOLENCE +TECCHOLOGY AND RESIGNATION

Inscription on the south side:

A fool is he who hears a lot of good things, but nevertheless does not become any wiser, who wishes to gain lots of experience, but  nevertheless does not want to become a better person.

(first four lines from: Fool yesterday as today from the Ship of Fools by Sebastian Brant)

DESTROY LIFE AND THE DEATH LAUGHS HIS HEAD OF:

Literature:

- Das Ehekarussell, Jürgen Weber, Verlag M. Edelmann, Nürnberg, 1985

- Das Narrenschiff, Kunst ohne Kompass, Universitas Verlag, München, 1994

The Ship of Fools

1984 - 1987

Cast: Herbich

Originally the sculpture was designed as a  fountain

(for comparison see Historienbrunnen in Koblenz)

 A fool is he who donates  a memorial, for he will heavily  be criticized  for the endowment, He could have saved the trouble and the money ,

(Kurt Klutentreter)

The Ship of Fools is a scripture by Sebastian Brant from  1495 in which he describes the world  as a ship which is  steered to ruin by fools. This idea fascinated me. On the basis of this topic I could make visible and illustrate our fears of nature being destroyed by technical overexploitation or by extinction of life by nuclear disasters. And, apart from that, what is a better symbol than a ship of fools for our art business and the politicians strutting around smugly in it.

The fool´s face with the clamp cap in this context means bad luck anyhow, and the arms of the octopus remind of the snakes an the ancient head of Medusa: a connection of medieval and ancient allegories, which are typical for renaissanve literatur and the epic poem by Brant. As I attached a bejewelled female fool´s head to the stern of the ship as well the ship actually became directionless, foreward and backward finally are the same.  What could more aptly characterise the situation of "progress"?"

"The withered tree of knowledge as the mast of the ship of fools, as an allegory of withered reason, thus brought me to the image of a second expulsion of people and all living things from this earth into nothingness: the central figure of my new design became Death wielding the clap of fools like a scythe, driving Adam and Eve with their little murderer son Cain out of the ship that means the world. I then assigned violence, avarice and resignation to them as allegories of the worst folly. (...)

To death I assigned the hound of hell. From the dead tree - also a symbol for the dying of plants - a crow rises. Plants People and animals leave this ark symbolising the world or are driven out of it. That should be the message."(Jürgen Weber)

Inscription on the north side:

A fool is he who considers it to be a miracle that God now punishes the world and sends plagues and pestilence even though we still are Christians.

(first four lines from God sends Plague and Punishment from The Ship of Fools by Sebastian Brant)

VIOLENCE +TECCHOLOGY AND RESIGNATION

Inscription on the south side:

A fool is he who hears a lot of good things, but nevertheless does not become any wiser, who wishes to gain lots of experience, but  nevertheless does not want to become a better person.

(first four lines from: Fool yesterday as today from the Ship of Fools by Sebastian Brant)

DESTROY LIFE AND THE DEATH LAUGHS HIS HEAD OF:

Literature:

- Das Ehekarussell, Jürgen Weber, Verlag M. Edelmann, Nürnberg, 1985

- Das Narrenschiff, Kunst ohne Kompass, Universitas Verlag, München, 1994

The Ship of Fools

1984 - 1987

Cast: Herbich

Originally the sculpture was designed as a  fountain

(for comparison see Historienbrunnen in Koblenz)

 A fool is he who donates  a memorial, for he will heavily  be criticized  for the endowment, He could have saved the trouble and the money ,

(Kurt Klutentreter)

The Ship of Fools is a scripture by Sebastian Brant from  1495 in which he describes the world  as a ship which is  steered to ruin by fools. This idea fascinated me. On the basis of this topic I could make visible and illustrate our fears of nature being destroyed by technical overexploitation or by extinction of life by nuclear disasters. And, apart from that, what is a better symbol than a ship of fools for our art business and the politicians strutting around smugly in it.

The fool´s face with the clamp cap in this context means bad luck anyhow, and the arms of the octopus remind of the snakes an the ancient head of Medusa: a connection of medieval and ancient allegories, which are typical for renaissanve literatur and the epic poem by Brant. As I attached a bejewelled female fool´s head to the stern of the ship as well the ship actually became directionless, foreward and backward finally are the same.  What could more aptly characterise the situation of "progress"?"

"The withered tree of knowledge as the mast of the ship of fools, as an allegory of withered reason, thus brought me to the image of a second expulsion of people and all living things from this earth into nothingness: the central figure of my new design became Death wielding the clap of fools like a scythe, driving Adam and Eve with their little murderer son Cain out of the ship that means the world. I then assigned violence, avarice and resignation to them as allegories of the worst folly. (...)

To death I assigned the hound of hell. From the dead tree - also a symbol for the dying of plants - a crow rises. Plants People and animals leave this ark symbolising the world or are driven out of it. That should be the message."(Jürgen Weber)

Inscription on the north side:

A fool is he who considers it to be a miracle that God now punishes the world and sends plagues and pestilence even though we still are Christians.

(first four lines from God sends Plague and Punishment from The Ship of Fools by Sebastian Brant)

VIOLENCE +TECCHOLOGY AND RESIGNATION

Inscription on the south side:

A fool is he who hears a lot of good things, but nevertheless does not become any wiser, who wishes to gain lots of experience, but  nevertheless does not want to become a better person.

(first four lines from: Fool yesterday as today from the Ship of Fools by Sebastian Brant)

DESTROY LIFE AND THE DEATH LAUGHS HIS HEAD OF:

Literature:

- Das Ehekarussell, Jürgen Weber, Verlag M. Edelmann, Nürnberg, 1985

- Das Narrenschiff, Kunst ohne Kompass, Universitas Verlag, München, 1994