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Photographer - Orit Siman-Tov
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This photograph depicts a building site in Berlin 1999. Construction is about to begin. But the spirit pervading the photo is that of a
different building project, very far removed in time. It is the project known as the “Tower of Babel”. Looking closely at Breughel’s
The Tower of Babel, exhibited in Rotterdam, will reveal that despite technological improvements - from the timelessness of the
biblical tower to Breughel’s 16th century to Siman-Tov’s end of the 20th - nothing much has changed. Mammoth buildings are still
being erected and, most importantly, construction still involves and is generated by confusion. In other words: construction entails
symbolic destruction. The photograph is filled with contradictory gestures: the traffic sign points left and right simultaneously, as
does the figure on the billboard. Moreover, the cranes have suddenly turned into a confused chorus pointing in different directions.
Just as in Breughel’s painting, human figures – in this case the ones on the building to the left – can occupy no more than a very
small part of the whole “master project”. Compare the size of the tiny figure on the left with that of the enormous figure on the billboard.
Now visualize your own size in proportion to this print and try to imagine yourself in the picture, looking from inside at the open arms
of this modern-day false god.
The fence represents an attempt of sorts to take control of this cacophonic symphony of diagonals. However, even the fence is
obviously only “half” of a fence; it can hardly contain what is happening behind it. The cranes are like huge birds that have escaped
from their cage. Even the lower part, which is neatly fenced in, bears that confusing traffic sign. Nothing could be more ironic than
posting such a sign over the right angles of the fence!
However, out of what seems like total disorder, a world not only controlled by the god of chaos but abandoned even by him, something
structured does arise. This is what is beautiful about the picture: It is, after all, a construction site. Eventually, the cranes will disappear.
But in the photograph there is no need to wait until the building is completed and the cranes are removed; we already have a glimpse of
the finished work. Miraculously, the two focuses of confusion –the hands of the god and the traffic sign – diminish our disorientation
instead of intensifying it. They reflect each other, and just like two “minus” signs, they create a “plus”: All of a sudden, we understand
that the law of this site is a law of contradictions. Once we understand it, we are no longer lost. We are able to stand quietly and watch. |
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