Artist's homemade gas chamber angers Jewish groups

He is known for his provocative stunts, which have included tattooing the backs of drug addicts, and spraying a group of stateless Iraqis with foam. But the Spanish artist Santiago Sierra provoked outrage among Jewish groups in Germany yesterday with his latest work - a homemade gas chamber set up in a former synagogue.

The Mexico-based artist has parked six cars outside the synagogue and attached their exhaust pipes to the building using plastic tubes. It is then filled with deadly gas. Visitors are invited to go inside one by one wearing a gas mask, escorted by a firefighter. Before being allowed in, they have to sign a disclaimer stating they realise the room is full of carbon monoxide.

The project opened to the public on Sunday, creating huge queues, and runs until the end of April.

Sierra says the installation - entitled 245 cubic metres - is a protest against the "banalisation of the Holocaust".

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That would really protest against the "banalisation of the Holocaust", as well as having even greater potential for creating queues.

...I have to ask this; do you understand what the artist means by "banalisation of the Holocaust?" Because "banalisation" is not a word, but the root "banal" means "trite." So, is he saying that the memory of the Holocaust is used in a "trite fashion" or that the memory of the Holocaust "has been made trite?" And, whom do you think he is accusing of creating the "banalisation of the Holocaust?"

Since I asked you, it is only fair I share my opinion. Personally, I read his rationale as the Holocaust is trite, used to often. My guess is he thinks this done by Jews, but that is just my opinion. Personally, I can't say I care either way, the very idea of pumping gas into a synagogue is beyond disgusting.

Doesn't banal mean "commonplace" and "ordinary"? Because Arendt's use of it for Eichmann definately wasn't calling him a trite sort of evil...

Violet...

"Banal" does mean "commonplace" and "ordinary." This is why I am having such a difficult time understanding what the artist is trying to say. Does his "protest against the "commonplace-ness" or "ordinariness" of the Holocaust" mean he thinks the Holocaust was "commonplace" and "ordinary"? To me, it sounds as if he is denigrating the Holocaust.

I'm not really understanding what he's trying to say either. I thought at first that he was protesting at the public perception of the Holocaust, but I don't think banal is a way that most people view the Holocaust though some historians do point out that the machinery of genocide in the case of the perpetrators was one of banality and impersonal bureaucracy. But I think the view of historians and that of the public when it comes to banality would be different. And if this guy was protesting the public's banalisation of the Holocaust, wouldn't it make more sense to do something to really shock people? So I think he might be denigrating the Holocaust, but I really can't be sure coz I don't really get what it is exactly that he's protesting against...

Violet...

I lost my first post to you because this thread was moved. But, I agree...what the hell is he trying to say? Even if he is trying to "respect" those lost in the Holocaust, I don't think this was a good way to go about it. This is, IMO, the same as setting fire to a Mosque and saying 'this represents the loss suffered by Muslims,' or 'flogging an African-American with an American flag whip' and stating it is 'protesting the banalitization of slavery.' His "art" leaves something to be desired.

The banality of evil is one of Arendt's better thoughts, but I'm sure she wasn't thinking of something like this. And I would agree with your speculation as to what he thinks he is thinking.

On the one hand, I can't help feeling repelled by this "artist".

But on the other hand, someone is taken into the synagogue wearing a gas mask, knowing they are surrounded by deadly gas. It would leave you feeling rather vulverable and afraid. Perhaps it would really help peope to understand something. Empathy is so rare in our world, anything that helps teach people empathy is not altogether bad.