ABSTRACT

This paper examines two works of contemporary art, a sculpture-cum-civic monument and a sound installation, which respond to Goethe’s Divan. The discussion combines a critical review of the political climate within which the works were conceived with original interviews with the artists to offer close analysis of the works. I evaluate the relative impact that the Divan and scholarship on it had upon the two works. I further ask whether the artists and their sponsors felt compelled to downplay more contentious themes found in that legacy, given the ideal of intercivilizational dialogue so prominent in the discourses of German-Iranian cultural diplomacy. The paper offsets this critical reading, however, by highlighting the quite sophisticated treatments of occidental-oriental relations achieved by both works within their respective media.

摘要

本文考察了两幅当代艺术作品，分别是雕塑兼公民纪念碑和音响装置，它们回应了歌德的《神殿》。讨论将对作品构思的政治氛围进行批判性回顾，并与艺术家进行原始访谈，以对作品进行仔细分析。我评估了法院的相对影响并在这两个作品上获得了奖学金。我进一步询问，鉴于在德伊两国文化外交的论述中如此重要的文明对话的理想，艺术家及其赞助商是否会被迫低估在该遗产中发现的更具争议的主题。然而，这篇论文通过强调两种作品在各自媒体中实现的西方-东方关系的相当复杂的处理，抵消了这一批判性的解读。