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„SO SORRY! - ALEA IACTA EST"

"Alea iacta est. So sorry."

Installation made of Murano glass by Sabine Johanna Wiedenhofer

 

We are young. We leave home. We travel the world. We are strangers. Almost everywhere. Sometimes we move faster, sometimes slower. Luck decides. So does the willingness to take risks. We go alone or in groups. Occasionally, we are thrown back to the beginning. The first one to reach a safe home again wins. A life. A game.

 

It is our journey of life, depicted in the form of a board game based on the ancient Indian game "Pachisi," which has been known by various names all over the world for over 100 years but is played by almost all people on this planet.

Germany, Austria: "Mensch ärgere dich nicht" (Don't Get Angry, Man)

Switzerland: "Eile mit Weile" (Haste with Patience)

Netherlands: "Mens erger je niet" (Man, Don't Get Upset)

UK: "Ludo"

Italy: "Non t'arrabbiare" (Don't Get Angry)

France: "Le Jeu de Dada" (The Dada Game)

Spain: "Parchis"

Sri Lanka: "pahada kolya"

Malaysia: "dhola"

Myanmar: "pasit"

Iran: "pachis"

Arab countries: "parchis"

It's the dice that still decide fortune and misfortune in the game, symbolically influencing the fate of humanity.

 

Austrian artist Sabine Wiedenhofer, in her installation "Alea iacta est" – as Gaius Julius Caesar said in 49 BC – employs the symbolism of this game, provocatively questioning whether the dice have finally been cast for humanity or if we might get another chance to roll.

Has the way we play the game of our lives brought us to a breaking point? Will we get another roll of the dice? To the next generation, we simply say, "so sorry."

In an installation featuring an oversized "Don´t get angry" game board, 16 game pieces in different colors – made of Murano glass – stand in a glass basin filled with water.

The water reaches up to the figures' necks. A symbol that the way we play our life journeys might not be for our own good and that, as humans become game pieces, they lose their identity. In the end, one figure resembles another.

Above this, in a three-dimensional wall sculpture, the 4.5-meter-long inscription "SO SORRY" shines, created from over 821 deactivated "30-06 & 30-08 rifle cartridges."

It shows that even seemingly negative, dangerous, and deadly things can transform into an encouraging message – that hope and courage should never die.

 

We leave this world to the youth and now ask them to join us on the journey, to end our risky game, and to clean up the playing field.

 

And it's Venice – la serenissima – the city accustomed to rising waters, with its over 1600-year history representing both the most desirable destination and a victim of the same game. The city for which the dice have often seemed to fall, is the place where this installation is meant to stir up turmoil and question our actions. The city that deserves to be treated with love, respect, and acknowledgment by the whole world. Because no one wants to sink.

Technical description:

 

"Alea iacta est. So sorry." is a glass basin measuring 2.80 x 2.80 meters, with a height of 30 cm, containing a game board on its bottom, where 4x4 game pieces in four different colors are positioned. Each game piece is in the shape of a cone with a ball at the top, produced in the world-renowned Berengo Studio, made of Murano glass. Above this is the wall sculpture "SO SORRY." It consists of seven red fluorescent letters in acrylic glass, with a depth of 2.5 centimeters. These letters bear 821 deactivated, militarily used rifle cartridges anchored in 8mm, 1cm, and 1.5cm deep boreholes. The light and shadow play of the cartridges reflects on the surrounding walls of the room.

 

"Alea iacta est. So sorry."

 

Concept & Idea: Sabine Wiedenhofer

Technical Execution: Sabine Wiedenhofer & Fondazione Berengo

La Biennale di Venezia 2024

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