Travel book “Traces of other places” by Sebastian Acker – Reise


When the news made the rounds that a copy of the picturesque market town of Hallstatt, located on a lake in the Salzkammergut, was to be built in the Chinese province of Guangdong, there were two types of reactions in German-speaking countries: an aggressively insulted variant and an incredulous and ridiculous variant. Representatives of the first were mainly to be found in Hallstatt itself as well as in nationally conscious circles in Austria. Out of shame they considered taking legal action against the Chinese Hallstatt project to enforce something like copyright or trademark protection.

The other group thought it was a grotesque folly; and it was agreed that such a copy could naturally only be a bad copy. A shabby plastic version of the original, so to speak, which lacks an awareness of tradition and an understanding of the context.

In the English-language book “Traces of Other Places” by the photographer Sebastian Acker, published by the German Kerber publishing house, both buildings of thought are quickly and decisively brought down. Because, according to the arguments, they are far too short-sighted. Because they fail to recognize the importance of the Chinese replica and see problems where none exist. And because the Eurocentric view is in parts an arrogant one.

In China, copies have a completely different status than in the West

Viewing a copy as fundamentally inferior to the original is a deeply Western way of thinking. In China, as the author Sylvia Chan explains in her accompanying text, copying is seen as a skill and an expression of technical supremacy. In this respect, in the Chinese view, copies – whether in the technological sector or in the cultural sector – are an expression of prosperity, sophistication, sophistication, modernity and increasing mental agility. The legitimacy of copying is not called into question.

A detour takes the photographer Acker to Dafen, to the so-called Oil Painting Village. Copies of masterpieces of painting are made there. You can buy replicas of paintings by Van Gogh, da Vinci or Klimt there, and Dafen itself has long since become a trademark that guarantees exceptional quality. If you will, argues Sylvia Chan, Dafen itself has now become an original.

Reconstructing the exotic is a European invention

Anyone who accuses the Chinese of copying individual buildings – in addition to Hallstatt, Sebastian Acker also deals with Thames Town in his book, which is not a clone like Hallstatt / Guandong, but a collage of buildings from different English cities – fails to recognize that this type of Reconstruction is a European invention. The first world exhibitions were always plagiarism orgies in this regard, in which the reconstruction of the supposedly exotic represented a value in itself. The highlight in this respect was the colonial exhibition in Paris in 1931, at which the replicas of a Cambodian temple and the clay mosques of Timbuktu were viewed as gems.

The key point of Sebastian Acker’s photographic examination of the architectural copies that were most recently made in China is the question of the nature of the originals. Isn’t there a need for a replica in China first so that Hallstatt, which is historically significantly older, can be seen as an original? Which, however, does not yet clarify what concept of original is used in Austria. Because even if the architecture in the village centers often claims otherwise, the historical character of many Alpine villages has long since disappeared. The people – who can blame them? – don’t live like a hundred or two years ago. However, as the traditional dissolves, the longing for a historical idyll grows, according to the art historian Annette Tietenberg in her introductory text.

Both Hallstatts are therefore reproductions of a past that never existed in this way. The transformation of the Austrian town into a tourist attraction has led to a new contextualization, says Sylvia Chan. Another new contextualization then took place in Guandong, only with a different content. Both are artificial – and an expression of originality. But it is not a question of the original and the copy. Tourists will find what they are looking for in both places.

Sebastian Acker: Traces of other places. Kerber-Verlag, Bielefeld 2021. 112 pages, 29.90 euros.

.



Source link