Dante 2020 : : : Digital Picture Cycle

“Hell on Earth” is what you say when fate strikes with full force. In the old days, strokes of fate were considered divine instructions. Godly people accepted the ‘answers of heaven’ without asking questions.

The sins of modern times correspond in large parts to those of our ancestors. Stinginess, envy, greed, murder, robbery and betrayal are omnipresent. Cain still slays Abel. We have learned nothing.

Many Christians had and have very concrete ideas about hell. According to the law of poetic justice, unbelievers should ‘pay’ even after their death. Sinners are rebuked by a punishing God. In stories that have been handed down to us, images of ‘poor devils’ were and are held up to us, who because of their mistakes in this world, will atone in the hereafter. ‘Hell’ and ‘purgatory’ have always been a means of blackmail. The fear of the punishments in the hereafter through misconduct in this world should lead to obedience to the authorities.

“Punishment must be done”. Compensation for overstepped boundaries in everyday life seems only fair. We have learned from our early childhood that it is better not to break rules – not in the family, not among friends, not at school, not at work and not in traffic. Whoever dares to do so, will be punished. Because “where would we be if everyone did what they wanted”.

Rules make sense. Without rules, murder and mayhem would be programmed. Even those who do not believe in the one God who sees everything are bound by the rules of social interaction.

The ‘eye of God’ is largely replaced by the eyes of worldly bodies, more and more often in the form of cameras, drones and satellites. In this sense, there are still ‘heavenly eyes’ that control us from above. This time we do not have the choice to believe in them. Our ‘sins’ are seen more and more reliably.

›Dante 2020‹ depicts selected sinners in a modern interpretation.

Divine Comedy : : :

The ‘Divine Comedy’ by the medieval poet Dante Alighieri, completed shortly before his death, is considered one of the greatest works in the history of Italian literature. In his songs Dante described his journey through hell, purgatory and paradise. Since then, artists from the fields of painting, sculpture, film, literature and music have been attracted by the interpretation: Sandro Botticelli, Eugène Delacroix, William Blake, Peter Tchaikovsky, Giacomo Puccini, Auguste Rodin, Salvadore Dali, Dan Brown, Peter Greenaway, Robert Rauschenberg ... portrayed ‘their’ divine comedy.

• Arrogant and proud
• Envious
• Angry ones
• Tears
• Devotees and profligates
• Self-indulgent
• Voluptuous