Kafka's Great Wall

Last Train to Kafka, 2012. Porcelain, wood, mortar. 40x40cm

Two porcelain works inspired by Kafka's The Great Wall (Beim Bau der Chinesischen Mauer, 1917/30). Left: Last Train to Kafka. Hundreds of words chosen from The Great Wall, pressed into porcelain, cut up and fired; porcelain freight cars and a locomotive, mortar, and a decorative wooden window frame serve as material for this piece.

Kafka's Great Wall, 2012. Porcelain, wood. 28x32cm

In Kafka's Great Wall I chose words lifted from Kafka's story, impressed them into porcelain clay, glazed and fired them. Not much bigger than mosaic tesserae, the porcelain words in the image at the left have been rearranged into a text in which the writer sees himself as a mason, contributing with his work to the building of the Tower of Babel and the Great Wall. The act of writing is a form of resistance: The Wall, and not the presence and views of the High Command — the Wall is China's great achievement.

A transcription of the German brickwork can be found below, along with an English translation.

Kafka's Great Wall - German textMaurer sein: Zeichen suchen, und keine Führung oder gar Fesselung; die Anordnungen der Führerschaft sind, wenn nicht ohne menschlichen Grund, doch gegensätzliche Seitengassen, Grenzen, die uns seit Menschengedenken so wahnsinnig werden lassen, daß wir nicht kämpfen; doch ich muß an den Fesseln rütteln. Damals war die Verwirrung der Schrift die Kernfrage meiner Untersuchungen und ich war durchaus nicht der Frage nach gewesen nur auf Grund der Zeit in der ich meine Auffassung und Gedanken vermitteln musste. Wenn das Buch sich nicht von selbst geschrieben hätte, wäre ich keineswegs noch am Leben. Das Buch ist, das will ich glauben, mächtiger, und menschlicher als die Führerschaft, begreiflich und untrüglich. Das sei unser Gebet, daß der Menschenverstand Fundament werde, ruhig und unsterblich, nutzlos nicht. Es ist der Turmbau selbst ein Widerstand, Klarheit und Sonne der Babelturm und darum denke ich ihm nach. Meine Schriften, Gedanken und Erwägungen Mauerbau und Turmbau sind. Will man doch schon aus dem Grund nicht scheitern - und stürzte doch die Mauer, so wären Wir vom Mauerbau abzuschießen. Aber wozu das Ende von Hunderttausenden? Die Mauer, und nicht die Gegenwärtigkeit und Meinung der Führerschaft-, die Mauer ist doch das große Werk Chinas.
English translation To be a mason is to search for signs and significant marks, not guidance from others, or what is worse, binding rules and regulations. The orders of the High Command, although not without a basis in human reason, are in fact contradictory side streets, borders that since the dawn of history have driven us so crazy that we do not fight; nevertheless I must rattle the chains. At the time, the confusion of writing was the principal question behind my research, and I didn't go chasing after that question just because of the times when I was compelled to explain my view and thoughts. If the book had not written itself I would surely be dead. The book, or so I choose to believe, is more powerful and more human than the High Command, comprehensible and without deception. May that be our prayer, that human reason become the foundation, calm and immortal, not simply useless. The building of the Tower is itself a form of resistance; clarity and the sun are the Tower of Babel, and that is why I continue to think about it. My writings, thoughts and considerations are one with the building of the Wall and the Tower. For that reason alone one desires not to fail, and were the Wall to collapse, we who built it would have to be shot. But what would be the point of killing hundreds of thousands? The Wall, and not the presence and views of the High Command — the Wall is China’s great achievement.

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