Speak Free

“Speak Free” is both a sculpture and an invitation. In a statement on his website, the artist says:
“These changes frighten us all, but…
What matters now is how we treat each other.
Whether factual discussion is possible.
My name is Manaf Halbouni
And I believe in a world where we can live together
In freedom and without fear.”
“Speak Free” is a concrete speaker’s platform consisting of five steps and a handrail varnished in gold, located in the public rose garden of the city of Soest, where it caused some controversy, was sprayed on and then surrounded by rose plants intended to overgrow it. It was finally rediscovered and revived by a citizens’ initiative, the Verein Kulturparlament Soest e.V. (Cultural Parliament Soest Association) and restored to its original purpose, because the rostrum is intended to be used as such.
Manaf Halbouni, who left Syria in 2008 to escape military service, wants his art to inspire discussions, something he has been remarkably successful at, not only with this present made at the end of his time as Wilhelm Morgner scholarship holder in Soest. In 2017 he realised the “Monument” made up of three upended, burnt-out busses which evoked the civil war in Syria at various locations, including in front of Dresden’s Frauenkirche and the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. In 2021, his exhibition ZONE caused more heated discussions in Soest, when the installation of a wall of oil barrels reaching from the Raum Schroth of the Wilhelm Morgner Museum to the Patrokli Cathedral restricted the movements of the museum visitors in a very real sense. This reflection on territorial borders and arbitrary territorial divisions did not meet with everyone’s approval, but – just like “Speak free” – inspired numerous public discussions.