According to reports in April, 2008, controversial German artist Gregor Schneider is seeking a volunteer willing to live out the last moments of his or her life on display in a museum or art gallery.
The concept
Schneider claims that Dr. Roswitha Franziska Vandieken, who runs a private clinic in Düsseldorf, Germany, has agreed to help him find a patient willing to die in the name of art. If he can not find a gallery or museum that will agree to host the exhibit, he plans to stage the piece in a private studio space in his hometown of Rheydt.
Backstory
The artist gained critical acclaim with a sculpture of a dead woman, titled Hannelore Reuen. He also won an award for his installation, Totes Haus u r, in which portions of his childhood home were relocated and altered, with rooms that rotate on their axis and a labyrinthine arrangement of halls and doors that lead to dead ends. Schneider has been altering the house, both in situ and in mobile exhibitions, for over twenty years.
Quotes
- "I want to display a person dying naturally in the piece or somebody who has just died."—The Art Newspaper
- "My aim is to show the beauty of death."—The Art Newspaper
- "Unfortunately today, death and the road to death are about suffering. Coming to terms with death — as I plan it — can take away the pain of dying for us,"—CBC.ca
Gregor Schneider Blogs and Commentaries
Google Blog Search: Gregor Schneider
National Post (Canada): Art in an Age of Egoists (April 22, 2008)
InventorSpot: An Exhibit People May Be Dying to Get Into? (April 17, 2008)
CBC.ca: German Artist Seeks Subject Willing to Die for Art (April 22, 2008)
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