10 Commandments for the 21st Century


2007
Posters, t-shirts, free postcards, film, travel, confessions on a website


Commissioned by Sharjah Biennial 8
Shown during Sharjah Biennial 8 in Dubai and Sharjah (United Arab Emirates), 4 April - 4 June 2007

10 Commandments for the 21st Century 12
10 Commandments for the 21st Century 11
10 Commandments for the 21st Century 10
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10 Commandments for the 21st Century 8
10 Commandments for the 21st Century 7
10 Commandments for the 21st Century 7
10 Commandments for the 21st Century 6
10 Commandments for the 6
10 Commandments for the 21st Century 5
10 Commandments for the 21st Century in Russian
10 Commandments for the 21st Century in Spanish
10 Commandments for the 21st Century in Chinese
10 Commandments for the 21st Century in Finish
10 Commandments for the 21st Century in German
10 Commandments for the 21st Century in English
10 Commandments for the 21st Century in Urdu
10 Commandments for the 21st Century 5
10 Commandments for the 21st Century 1
10 Commandments Travel through Iran
10 Commandments for the 21st Century Travel to Sharjah
10 Commandments for the 21st Century Belgrade
10 Commandments for the 21st Century Isfahan
The Greek Ship on the Island of Kish (Iran)

Click image to enlarge.

10 Commandments for the 21st Century

We all know the Ten Commandments of the Bible and the suras of the Quran. These rules have served us well in the past as a guide for family and social life. Today, it is more complicated to be a good human being. We have already filled the earth and use it for our benefit. Now the biggest moral problem of humankind is our relationship to our environment and declining natural resources.
Parallel to the old moralities, good and bad is now defined according to the impact on nature and environment. Human-centric capitalism has meant each person's right to consume natural resources to the extent that his or her income allows. Practicing love and caring for "thy neighbour as thyself" today means accepting new limits on consumerism.
If put into action, the simple rules displayed in “10 Commandments for the 21st Century” could slow down and gradually restore some parts of the ecological disaster caused by the human population. The commandments refer to current technical solutions, rather than better ideas or practices that may yet develop. If humanity succeeds in steering itself clear of its crash course with the environment, “10 Commandments for the 21st Century” will have a different meaning. In the best-case scenario, future viewers of the artwork will find our current problem, and these 10 ideas to solve it, as laughable signs of a primitive point in history around the year 2000.


Tea Mäkipää (*1973 in Finnland, lebt in Weimar) setzt sich in ihren künstlerischen Arbeiten kritisch mit Aspekten unseres globalisierten westlichen Lebensstils auseinander. Dabei beschäftigen sie vor allem unsere Überlebensstrategien und Fragen des sozialen Zusammenlebens, unser verantwortungsloser Umgang mit der Natur und die negativen Auswirkungen der Globalisierung. Die Schönheit ihrer nicht selten monumentalen Installationen, Fotoarbeiten und Objekte lädt zum genüsslichen Betrachten ein: Gnadenlos werden darin jedoch die Grausamkeiten und Unerbittlichkeiten der Welt, in der wir leben, geschildert. In den Vereinigten Arabischen Emiraten stand 2007 die Sharjah Biennale unter dem Motto „Art, Ecology and the Politics of Change“ (Kunst, Ökologie und die Politik des Wandels). Aus diesem Anlass verfasste die Künstlerin ihre „10 Commandments for the 21st Century“: „1. Fliege nicht, 2. Recycle…“ Die Aufstellung von 10 Geboten für das 21. Jahrhundert bietet einfache Möglichkeiten für einen achtsameren Umgang mit unserer Umwelt. Die Liste vor einem Schönwetter-Bildhintergrund wirkt allerdings schon heute beinahe trivial: Gebotslisten dieser Art veröffentlichen inzwischen auch das Bundesumweltministerium, die EU-Kommission oder der Umweltverband BUND. Der Klimawandel verändert nicht nur die Welt. Er verändert auch unseren Blick auf diese Welt. Tea Mäkipää reiste damals über mehrere Monate ohne Flugzeug (per Bahn, Bus, Fahrrad, Boot, Schiff und zu Fuß) von Weimar über Bulgarien, die Türkei und den Iran zur Ausstellung in die Vereinigten Emirate und per Containerschiff zurück. „Umgesetzt in die Tat, könnten die einfachen Regeln in ‚10 Gebote für das 21. Jahrhundert’ allmählich einige Teile der ökologischen Katastrophe, die durch die menschliche Bevölkerung verursacht wird, verlangsamen und unsere Umwelt restaurieren. Wenn es der Menschheit gelänge, klar von dem Crash-Kurs mit ihrer Umwelt weg zu steuern, würden die „10 Gebote für das 21. Jahrhundert“ eine andere Bedeutung bekommen. Im besten Fall werden die Kunstbetrachter der Zukunft in diesem Werk etwas über unsere aktuellen Probleme herausfinden, und diese 10 Ideen, sie zu lösen, würden zu lächerlichen Zeichen für einen rudimentären Punkt in der Geschichte um das Jahr 2000 herum werden. Das Ziel des Projektes ist es, Diskussionen zu evozieren und das persönliche Verantwortungsgefühl des Betrachters auf der Ebene des täglichen Lebens und täglicher Entscheidungen anzusprechen. Das zweite Ziel ist es, die Verwirrung und Frustration gegenüber ökologischen Fragen zu entzerren, indem die Entscheidungen sehr einfach gemacht werden. Das Projekt bezieht sich auf den aktuellen Stand technischer Lösungen, anstatt sich mit besseren Ideen und Praktiken der Zukunft auseinanderzusetzen. Das Werk ist nicht-kommerziell und versucht, für jedes Volk, jede Kultur und Religion, jedes Alter und jeden sozialen Status zugänglich zu sein.“ (Tea Mäkipää)

Tea Mäkipää’s 10 Commandments for the 21st Century
A project for the Sharjah Biennial 8

In our neo-liberal society, the strictly anti-consumerist formulation of 10 Commandments for the 21st Century may sound provocative. In a Gulf state like Dubai, whose wealth is based on fossil fuels and where a ski-slope in the desert, air-conditioned luxury malls and artificial islands were the proud achievements of the (still young) 21st century, commandments like “Use a bicycle or public transportation instead of a car”, or “Avoid heating and air conditioning, if possible” must appear incomprehensible, if not blatantly absurd. To propose this actualization of Moses’ biblical Ten Commandments to a mostly Muslim audience further adds to the confusion. Yet when Tea Mäkipää presented this proposal upon my invitation to participate in the Sharjah Biennial 8, entitled “Still Life. Art, Ecology and the Politics of Change”, she was deeply serious about it – while being well aware of the inherent contradictions. And it is exactly the balance between straightforward seriousness, sincere moral claim and tongue-in-cheek irony that makes the work interesting. When I read the 1st commandment “Do not fly”, my first question was whether or how Tea was intending to attend the biennial’s opening in Sharjah, if she was to follow the commandments. She did not think long about the answer and confirmed that she would come – from Weimar by land and by sea. The journey took more than three weeks, and, besides the beautiful moments of prolonged traveling time (in places other than airport lounges), that old school ground transit brings with it, it was not, as one might expect, without complications and challenging experiences. For example, Saudi-Arabia had to be circumvented via a time-consuming route, as women are not allowed to travel there without male company, and on the Iranian island of Kish she was confronted with the harsh reality of other, non-holiday travelers: the hundreds of laborers from the Philippines, India and Pakistan who were literally stuck there due to expired visas to the UAE. An exemplary action and consequent reaction to the 10 Commandments of the 21st Century, the journey became part of the work and was documented through a video (10 Commandments for the 21st Century: Crusade to the UAE, 2007) and a travel-blog. Of course, also here, the project is not without contradictions. Travel by ship is not necessarily more ecological than boarding an airplane, and for an artist who exhibits internationally, a general decision to never fly anywhere would probably lead to self-isolation. But, perhaps more importantly, the sheer attempt to do so showed that it is in fact possible to avoid certain standards of lifestyle that we regard as indispensable today – if we only tried.

When Tea and I first talked about a possible presentation of the “10 Commandments” in Sharjah, I envisioned them on the huge billboards that line the notoriously traffic-blocked highway between the neighboring cities and emirates Sharjah and Dubai. I loved the idea of the confusion that they might cause, placed between the gigantic, omnipresent advertisements for a luxurious lifestyle in front of a vast skyline still under construction. But the exaggerated prices for such billboards soon asked for a change of plan, and we opted for a more modest presentation that would instead add the possibility of a direct and personal interaction with a wide variety of people: in addition to normal-sized posters, the commandments were printed – in Arab, Urdu, and English – on postcards that were available in the exhibition venues and in other frequented public spaces, such as selected restaurants, and that could be distributed personally by the artist, the curators and with the help of local students, who got engaged in some lively discussions with Tea about the work and its content – which is, ultimately, the devastating consequences of climate change, if we do not take action.

And then the project came to life again in the confrontations and conversations with the individuals to whom the postcards were distributed. Even if for many the message caused at first amused confusion, at least it could provide some food for thought, if not manage in the end to convince (with the one exception being perhaps the 8th commandment, “Do not produce more than 2 children”). But leaving anecdotes, provocation and irony aside, what Tea wanted to achieve with the work, and what lies at the core of it, is the understanding that if we – we, the people, the common problem – want this planet to survive as a livable place for our children, a fundamental reevaluation and reinvention of our moral values is necessary. Not only necessary, but inevitable.

Eva Scharrer