Lecture7
The Krammeramtshaus – now Haus der Niederlande -was in 1648 the residence of the Dutch mission during the negotiations for the Westfalische Frieden (Peace of Münster and Osnabrück) Until recently it was the city library. “Lecture 7” arose out of these facts, the performance was part of a contemporary Dutch art event in Münster. Situation. In the historical conference room of the house is a large oval wooden table, at which 14 people have all taken their places. All of them have a digital clock. In the wooden panelling of the walls are benches where the public can be seated during the performance. The 14 performers are invited to read aloud texts from historical books about the Treaty of Westphalia. Seven people each read in the language of one of the countries involved in the peace treaty: German , French, Dutch, Italian, Swedish, Spanish and Czechoslovakian (Bohemia). Because Latin, however, plays such an important role as official language, as well as in the extensive correspondence as in the carrying out of the peace negotiations, the text in this language are read in unison by another group of 7 people. Realization. The readers of the 7 different languages begin very softly, and evenly developed the strength of their voices to a highest point after 15 minutes, after which the process is executed in reversed direction. After 7 minutes the group of Latin readers begins. They also develop the strength of their voices so that they are at their strongest at the same time as the others, after which they again reduce their volume over 7 minutes. However because they are reading in unison their sound exceeds that of the other languages. The rising development of the languages, running trough each other, receives a supporting Latin construction which temporarily surpasses the whole, and then again slowly disappears.
year | 1995 |
brief description | texts from West Falen Treaty 1648 documents are read aloud in 7 languages |
curator | Gail Kirkpatrick |
photography | Toine Horvers |
further information | a special thanks to Dhr. Gert Dethleffs, staff member of Stadtmuseum Münster. |