Being There, Exhibition in Public Space, Linz 1996 Excerpt from the Catalog
On the cover of a major Austrian weekly magazine, the image of the naked Chancellor recently adorned its pages, accompanied by the allusion to "The Emperor's New Clothes." Of course, the Chancellor would never allow himself to be depicted as naked. Politicians, after all, must never show everything or reveal too much. So how does an artist like Hermann Staudinger come to depict a person naked, let alone in full size? Is it narcissistic self-exposure? Is the artist attempting to provoke or shock? What differentiates this from the flood of pornography that inundates us?
Pornography always pursues a purpose. True art, on the other hand, is purposeless. A work of art is not created "to" achieve something. The true artist does not confine himself to a specific purpose in his work. He transcends the societal and economic constraints of "to." He acts out of an inner drive, out of an inner necessity.
He must create his work without asking if it is liked or well-received. The much-praised freedom of the artist is, in fact, a necessity that the artist voluntarily submits to. However, although—or precisely because—the work of art serves no purpose, it holds profound meaning; it conveys a message for those who engage with it. What could be the message of this exhibition?
Clothing, at its core, represents protection. When one sheds their clothes, one exposes themselves to vulnerability. Hermann Staudinger consciously embraces this. With clothing, one can also cover, conceal, or hide something, such as a physical deficiency.
And "clothes make the man." I can create an image of myself when I dress accordingly. I present a good appearance. I can project more of myself than I truly am. So if I now forgo my clothes, what then am I?
In the case of the "new clothes of the emperor," or the Chancellor, the critical magazine wanted to convey the observation of the child, who alone speaks the naked truth: “He is naked!” His pockets are empty.
Nakedness has to do with having—or rather, not having. Hermann Staudinger's work raises the question: To have or to be; it is the question central to our modern society, as Erich Fromm suggests in a book entirely dedicated to this theme. Never before in human history has one been able to have so much, to surround oneself with so many things. Throughout life, people strive to have more, more, and even more. In the process, they lose sight of being, of simply being, of existing. They forget how to truly live.
I met Hermann Staudinger when he attended one of my meditation seminars to practice Zen. Essentially, it involves discovering: "Who am I?" It is about experiencing the naked self, after piercing through all illusions and self-deceptions.
When Hermann Staudinger first presented the idea and the concept of this exhibition to me, I spontaneously said to him: “This is pure Eckhart, the fundamental concept of Master Eckhart.” When Erich Fromm speaks of having and being, he is echoing Master Eckhart. What makes Eckhart so modern is this: We all sense that things cannot continue as they have with more and more. And that the solution cannot lie in austerity measures. We realize that surrounding ourselves with more and more and producing and acting and rotating ever more merely distances us from ourselves, alienates us from ourselves, making us lose contact with who we truly are.
That, however, is what it is all about. What we have, we can lose. What we have acquired can also be taken away from us. Even our actions and endeavors can be stripped from us. But what we are, no one can take away. Master Eckhart once said:
"People should not think so much about what they should do; rather, they should contemplate what they are." Action follows from being, not vice versa. However, our society insists: “If you have something, you are something. If you can do something, then you are something.” Thus, we find our identity in what we have and accomplish, rather than in who we are.
So it should not be surprising that Master Eckhart frequently speaks of "being free," of "getting rid of," and of “bare,” “uncovered,” “naked,” and “unveiled.” He emphasizes the naked being and the unveiled reality of what is, and thus the stripping away and removing of all that has been added, until the pure essence, the essential being emerges. As Angelus Silesius will later phrase it: “Man, become essential!”
It may astonish us that, when it comes to God, Master Eckhart speaks of "bare" and "naked" too. That we must approach God in a bare and naked manner. He vividly illustrates that we should take God “in the clothing room,” before any garments are laid upon Him. This is, I believe, why many today can hear nothing of God anymore, because so many garments have been draped around Him, often ridiculous ones.
God or the divinity, as Eckhart puts it, is in His bare essence pure being. That means, He simply is—without question. When God in the Bible is asked by Moses what His name is, He answers simply: “I am here. I am the I-Am-Here.” God does not need to have anything or do anything. He is, He is everything. His entire essence is being, existence. And we sense it: to simply be; to be who one is; to say: I am—there can be nothing greater.
Can we do something to reach this liberating experience of simple being? Erich Fromm responds to the question, “What should a person do?”: “First of all ... meditation; so that a person learns to simply be himself, to do nothing, and to achieve a state of harmony with oneself.”
Doing nothing leads a person to recognize and endure their nakedness and bare existence. One does not always voluntarily strip away their clothing. Often, one’s garments are torn away in external and internal upheavals and crises. Hermann Staudinger could probably tell us much about this from his own journey. In a letter a year ago, he wrote to me: “That I always need crises to confront myself!” He also speaks of “my sacred innermost solitude.” Is that not this simple being? And he mentions a phrase from Jimenez: “pure solitude of your silent and secure essence.”
Let me conclude with a word from Master Eckhart: “If a person were entirely stripped naked and uncovered of all means, then God would also be bare and unveiled to him, and God would completely give Himself to him.” (DW P 69)