In Memory of Dani Karavan, Time and Space of Memory

May 29, 2021. The news of the death of Israeli-born world-renowned artist Dani Karavan (1930-2021) traveled around the world.

-Tsutomu Mizusawa (Director, Kanagawa Prefectural Museum of Modern Art)

I first learned of the news on a German-language website. It was one of the natural reactions, given that he has produced important works in Germany. Major works such as "Ma'alot" (1979-86), a work that created an entire space connecting the square near the cathedral in Cologne, and "Way of Human Rights" (1989-93), an inscription of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on Cartesian Square in Nuremberg, are still major works by Karavan in Germany today, and are truly representative of his work in the country. Many people in public spaces continue to receive its message on a daily basis.

Since "Negev Monument" (1963-68), created in the Israeli desert of Beersheba, Karavan's works have expanded far beyond the scale of a so-called monument and into space and time, but at the same time, they do not push aside existing objects and assert an excessive presence there. Rather, it is characterized by an open character that incorporates into the work even spaces like crevices and the movement and sounds of the surrounding wind, which are usually ignored.

This is a characteristic that would later be simply described by the term "site-specific," and it is an attitude that pervades the entire body of work, a creative stance that concentrates all five senses on the "place" in which the work is created. No matter where in the world, Caravan's work will be experienced in the spatial, acoustic, or celestial sphere of the place when visited. Moreover, it truly poetically awakens the thoughts that are exchanged with unknown people through memory.

It is not a large-scale monument that intimidates people, but a place where people, through the awakening of their senses, quietly continue a tolerant and peaceful dialogue with time and space in the expanse of memories beyond time and space, while keeping in mind the importance of their own feet, the very place they are stepping on... This is the essence of Karavan's work. And it will be synergized with the memories of Karavan himself in the future.

Collaboration with His Best Friend Menashe Kadishman, "Kaddish - A Requiem for Tsabar"

This is a detailed personal memory. Following a full-scale retrospective of Karavan's work that toured Japan from 1994 to the following year, two special exhibitions, "Modern Israeli Art" and "Contemporary Israeli Art," featuring modern and contemporary Israeli art, were held in 2001 at the then main building of Kanagawa Prefecture's Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura, and at the Museum of Art, Saitama, respectively. At that time, Caravan spared no devoted cooperation in various stages of preparation.

He then decided to collaborate with his best friend Menashe Kadishman on the terrace of the main building of the Kamakura building and the Heike Pond facing it. "Kaddish - A Requiem for Tsabar". On the terrace, one of the most attractive areas of the Kamakura building designed by Junzo Sakakura, Karavan laid out a railway track and placed pots of yellow flowers on it, and also put a mirror under the stairs so that the reflected image of the railway track would rise vertically, like 'Jacob's Ladder'. In the pond, he erected a three-dimensional sculpture of a South American cactus called "Tsabar," which is widely known in Israel. Around the cactus, Kadishman placed yellow painted wooden reliefs to float, suggesting the faces of the countless dead.

Actually, the size of the hole in the spine of 'Tsabar', which was decided by faxing in advance, was different from the size of the socket part of the small light bulb prepared at the museum, and could not be fit it in the hole well.

So he taped the non-glass part of the light bulb to make it a little thicker and adjusted it to fit the hole. As a result, he was completely different from the stretched feel of the thorns that he originally intended. As it turned out, the size of the hole in the spine of the 'Tsabar' was different from the size of the socket of the small light bulb we had prepared at the museum, and we could not fit it perfectly in the hole. So, the non-glass part of the bulb was taped to make it a little thicker and adjusted it to fit the hole. As a result, the spines did not look as smooth as originally intended.

I was very worried about what Karavan would think of it. As soon as he saw it, he smiled and said, "It's very good. It looks like the crucifixion of Christ by Grünewald.

It was still the time of year when dusk would arrive before the museum's opening hours. The Karavan cactus lit above the Heike House at dusk made us feel the pain of the dead, and at the same time, offered us comfort as if to heal them.

Tsutomu Mizusawa

Director of the Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura

1952 Born in Yokohama
1976 Graduated from the Department of Aesthetics and Art History, Keio University
1978 Curator in the Kamakura-kan at the Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura after completing the master's course at Keio University Graduate School
2008 General Director of the 'Time Crevasse' for the Yokohama Triennale 2008
Since 2011, current position

From German-speaking end-of-the-century art to modern and contemporary art, Japanese modern and contemporary art and its history of exchanges with foreign countries, etc...

Single work "Art and Modern Times at the End of The Century" by Shichosha, 1989
Co-edited with Toshiharu Omuka "Modernism / Nationalism", Serika Shobo, 2003

Schlüsselwörter der Modernität – am Beispiel der Kunst des modernen Japan,
museum global: Mikrogeschichten einer ex-zentrischen Moderne, K20, 2019
(Keywords of modernity - using the example of the art of modern Japan,
museum global: Microhistories of an ex-centric modernity, K20, 2019)