KJCKorea
Journal Central

In 1995, the German artist Rudolf Herz exhibits in Kunstverein Ruhr, Essen, his work entitled Zugzwang. “Zugzwang” in German signifies the oft-occurring situation in chess where the only possible move is a losing one. In the installation that Herz relates to the Duchampian process of readymade, he takes an image of Adolf Hitler and another of Marcel Duchamp, reproduces them through silkscreen process in a large number and covers the entire walls of the exhibition space in the way that evokes the image of chessboard. Herz’s main interest lies not only in making consciousness the subject of the critique of consciousness, but also how this consciousness “fails”. This question is undoubtedly part of Herz's effort to rethink the theories that serve to bridge the ontological gap between representation and its object, and the tradition of mimesis and artistic imitation, as well as all other theories that seek to reinterpret them. What does the repetition of the images of Duchamp and Hitler ultimately signify? To repeat the images of two of the most indispensable figures in art is a realization and at the same time critique of the unavoidable tautological situation caused by the problem of representation in the production and history of art. Rather than attempting to draw a new signification from the opposition, the key to understanding the artist’s intention lies in rethinking the most fundamental problem of representation and tautology in art, history and philosophy, or, metaphorically, rethinking the situation of Zugzwang on the chessboard.

Chess, Failure of consciousness, Marcel Duchamp, Readymade, Repetition, Rudolf Herz, Tautology, Zugzwang