GEHORCHEKEINEM / OBEYNOBODY

Providing knowledge to teachers and students is one of the principal tasks of a university and state library. But promoting information and media skills, that is the ability to use information critically, should also be part of a young person’s set of tools. The goal is to have the openness and ability to change one’s point of view, question once learned rules and let something new emerge by breaking them. The installation takes up these attributes and offers new spatial and intellectual perspectives. Interacting with the architecture of the building and its surroundings, the work references both the function of the university library and the characteristics of its location. (Babak Saed)

“Among the members of the university and the Münster public, this artwork caused controversial debates when it was inaugurated in 2009. Some critics feared that GEHORCHEKEINEM incited anarchy and endangered freedom and democracy. Others even believed they recognised blasphemy in this artwork. It was exactly this potential to provoke and trigger discussions that was the strength of the piece, as its admirers praised it. Despite or perhaps because of these contrasting responses, the installation has become the unofficial trademark of the university library today.” (From: ohne Kunst – kein Bau, Kunst- und Bau-Projekte in NRW 2007-2019)