"磐石"由 Alex da Silva |在鹿特丹港的奴隸紀念碑 | Clave by Alex da Silva

"磐石"由 Alex da Silva |在鹿特丹港的奴隸紀念碑

Photo by Max Dereta

這 麼多已經很難知道從哪裡開始。在威尼斯或肯雅人缺乏的安哥拉演出者嗎？南非的巴塞爾公約 》 或 Alex da Silva 在鹿特丹和他的奴隸制問題為鹿特丹港碼頭的勞埃德美麗作品揭幕儀式。這是媒體大亨們喜歡棲息在轉換後的碼頭時尚 loft 公寓位置。位置是尊貴型和有奴隸制紀念碑的理想地點。出人意料的是，房價上漲自通車後，必須在歐洲第一。從蘇利南和維德角人有，很長一段時間，競選奴隸國 慶和 7 月 1 日是成為荷蘭的國慶日為奴役和一個全國性的節日。

在 1863 年 7 月 1 日，整整 150 年前，蘇利南和荷屬安的列的所有奴隸最後被都授予他們的自由，這是 30 年後英國廢除貿易和荷蘭最終發現他們道德指南針和緊隨其後;今天，從殖民地荷蘭加勒比超過 80,000 後裔住在鹿特丹市，有的直接後裔，別人有關合同制工人取消後接替奴隸。直接受奴役其他種族群體是那些最初從海角維德角群島，非洲西海岸和鹿特丹房屋大約 23,000 維德角，演出者，Alex de Silva 是其中之一。在過去的一年左右的時間裡，演出者一直經常聯繫，飼喂不同片段的新聞有關的專案;在進行鬥爭的緊迫的時間壓力恒定，並找到正確的工匠和工匠建 造一座紀念碑，這種規模和，不同元素完美才會焊接在一起。什麼變得明顯的加班是過去的 Alex 的首要問題和關注的重大致敬的奴隸。很榮幸 Alex 一直不夠慷慨，讓我如此的最新在所有他的專案的不同階段。與他的第一個孩子，他的女兒和父親的新角色介紹，這兩年看到演出者個人的巨大變化。 他通過鹿特丹市這個新任務是完美的時間承認他作為國際演出者的責任，但也認識到奴隸制和它對世界各地的黑人社區意味著什麼年齡的重要性。有一種一般的感 覺，風已從那些奴隸船的帆。歷史上被盜和幾乎重寫-證據必須裸露時間的考驗和黑人社區必須能夠正確記錄的歷史。

最 初，Alex 曾試圖解釋他對他委託的公民雕像的願景，但它現在只是在我開始理解該專案的規模，並開始理解他事業的嚴重性專案的後期階段。工作由一系列焊接明亮拋光鋼手 打的板，站在高 9 米、 寬 5 米。工作描述為奴隸制時代的到來。美麗雕塑的不銹鋼數位看外星人在鹿特丹的天際線和抽象的小船與周圍建築完美融合。在某個角度結構變得幾乎一樣抽象塞拉。 工作有權"磐石"，是用在許多中美洲和南美洲的音樂音樂筆記。可來福是加勒比節拍和薩爾薩舞，倫巴舞，拉丁爵士樂中的功能的核心，在非洲裔古巴節奏是古巴 音樂的基石。工作讀取作為它的舞蹈一樣的雕塑和擊中所有正確地注意到，作為數位是如此完美地在一起，並莊嚴地閃耀在鹿特丹的天際線。Alex de Silva 是理想的選擇，當然只有演出者在鹿特丹，有可能產生這樣一種雄偉和發人深省的紀念碑。標的物是真正發自內心的。奴隸制的影響卻在他的國家的維德角如此明 顯，因為它是葡萄牙人與他們的歐洲夥伴的非洲奴隸貿易的重要場所。Alex de Silva，自己就是克裡奧爾語，動詞 criar （"養活"），這在 15 世紀，在維德角; 貿易和軍事前哨鑄造導數它最初指出生和本地"長大"的葡萄牙移民的後裔。這個詞然後傳播到其他語言通過從葡萄牙奴隸商人提供大部分南美國家在 16 世紀，整個的奴隸，所以他是理想的演出者為此專案。

奴隸制是可以經常被簡單地扔掉或丟棄以某種方式，但在現實中這種野蠻的貿易在人類生活中的單詞是遠比猶太大屠殺嚴重。西方世界需要振作的自滿和標記對婦女及其同胞這可怕的不人道行為。打造一座紀念碑是一個好的開始，但這令人厭惡的貿易在人類生活中值得更多

English

為 了安撫那些一直直接震級或在-直接影響和反映那些獲得了。認為，奴隸制是一門學科，應始終打開痛世界可以做的最好是要確保它很少受到感染。Alex 的大專案是如此壯觀，值得慶倖的是還豎立在完美的位置，引領進鹿特丹港河口口。工作行為所有船進鹿特丹，最大的港口，在歐洲被大量一部分 Nieuwe （新默茲河），通道在三角洲形成由萊茵河和默茲河與流出到北海一側和流進河裡直接進入歐洲的心臟，另會的燈塔。這些河流包括魯爾工業區。Alex 的工作將站在一起的俄羅斯雕刻家，城 Zadkine-De Verwoeste Stad"破壞城市"塑像描繪在 1940 年，創建于 1953 年的納粹轟炸恐怖偉大的工作。城 Zadkine，住在巴黎，有很大影響對已故的塞內加爾畫家，與他的妻子弗朗辛 · Iba N'Daiye 從聖 Louis，塞內加爾，但他後來搬到巴黎。Alex 的畫，似乎注意提示的非洲大師 Iba 恩迪亞耶，有許多相似之處，他們的生活輕視對方有西非的二元混合的回聲和歐洲文化的影響和培訓。Alex 就讀于藝術與建築的鹿特丹 Williem de Kooning 學院于 1999 年，然後去做研究生於 2000 年在荷蘭的格羅寧根密涅瓦學院。他的新工作現在成為其他世界著名的演出者羅丹、 Willem de Kooning 和出色的建築師，雷姆庫哈斯和他標誌性的地標，塑造了現代景觀的鹿特丹等城市景觀的一部分。

最 近時期一直呼籲奴隸制博物館設計和製造，在世界各地每個主要港口。2007 年 8 月看見門全開到奴隸博物館，在英格蘭利物浦。由早期 2010年利物浦奴隸博物館看到其 1 萬名遊客。這個博物館的成功已經滲透到美國大西洋上空，考慮和計畫正在作出的建設更多的古跡榮譽奴隸並開始記錄的非洲在世界各地興起。它是被很多人的非洲 奴隸建造現代世界。今天也許真正的回報，每個國家參與奴隸貿易的時候應認真考慮投資和重新定址的奴隸制問題。什麼是理想的就是見證真正的承諾，在私有和公 共錢包和資金湧入的奴隸博物館建設。這會吸引世界各地的黑人社區，參與並成為一個全新的世界的映射的一部分的積極作用。這將不僅鼓勵參與，但導致一些真正 獲得權力，現在，之前已被國際上拒絕。它還將促進一種特定的主人翁意識的歷史，但最重要的是，它會去創造一個更加公平的全球社會的某種方式。黑人歷史應該 最後為只是一個月但更多的年度事件，持久不在一 365 年天。通過建立這些博物館他們將本質上開始處理，並參與年輕和不安分。博物館應該是世界的一個地方的所有成員都希望來看，他們致力於非洲的崛起。政府和私 營企業應使其公民的義務，鼓勵他們的學生或員工定期參觀博物館。許多歐洲國家正面臨類似危機的社會感覺的隔離和脫離責任的意義在於在橫向思維和開始重新生 成相應的口袋裡。對於那些感興趣的非洲崛起，應該寫的書和電影製作。奴隸制的主體可以有這種積極的影響，對那些最被忽略和成為一個蓬勃發展的產業和新的創 意經濟受剝奪。

一 大批奴隸博物館湧現在過去的 5 到 10 年。他們看起來非常受歡迎的公眾，所有的人想要享受自由的一個虛幻的時刻，但誰將受益？奴隸博物館的目的當然是要賦予黑人社區，但相反，他們都由建立。我 們都知道那裡是為奴的錢，但這是反常的心理。奴隸博物館開在開普敦，SA;利物浦和倫敦，英國;美國在華盛頓特區，Memphis，亞特蘭大，查爾斯頓， 馬里蘭州，巴爾的摩，新奧爾良，亞歷山大，弗吉尼亞州和這裡的東西不加起來。非洲人又一次被拒絕的力量他們的過去，因為這是所有做與擁有權，總是被剝奪了 黑人世界範圍內，它是正如以賽亞 · 伯林先生指出，這是他所謂的"東方主義"的一種形式。寫歷史上的那些自己的人民的頭腦。這

是 21 世紀不能接受，需要重新考慮與聯接起來的幾點思考。需要連結到加勒比海，到牙買加、 古巴和特立尼達，南美巴西和蓋亞納和非洲塞內加爾、 加納、 多哥、 貝寧、 奈及利亞向摩洛哥和埃及。廢止奴隸制在茅利塔尼亞發生在 2007 年。它會讓人耳目一新，看到荷蘭行為是以不同的方式對美國和英國的奴隸博物館模型。

" 非洲的命運是我後，奴隸制、 殖民主義、 種族隔離和新自由主義全球化，非洲人不是他們生活的代理商。定義、 議程范式和觀點仍徵收歐洲和其他國家，占主導地位的非洲現實的所有方面。因此非洲的形象，非洲強加于這個世界的概念那些創立和控制的非非洲人部隊。因此， 全球化不是只有一種強加的產品，但也的想法和理想 — — 而更廣泛的人類多樣性。"

資料來源 ︰ 非洲大屠殺 |HTTP://www.africanholocaust.net/

非洲是美國和歐洲的最高機密。這些博物館有沉默毫不奇怪，那些在加勒比地區和非洲大陸都沒有意識到他們都有他們的爪子在嵌入的蜂蜜罐。 誰西方國家試圖授權但那些已經建立，這是最糟糕的是骯髒的政治和荷蘭將希望看到遠為清晰，比他們的國際同行的機會。

作者 ︰ Joe Pollitt

這裡是視頻的揭幕儀式。精湛。

 

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"Clave" by Alex da Silva | Slave Monument in Rotterdam Harbour

Photo by Max Dereta

So much have been happening it is hard to know where to start. Angolan artists in Venice or the lack of the Kenyans? The South Africans in Basel or Alex da Silva in Rotterdam and his unveiling of his beautiful work on slavery for Rotterdam Harbour at the Lloyd Pier. This is a location of Media tycoons who like to inhabit trendy loft apartments in the converted Wharf. The location is exculsive and the ideal spot to have a Slavery Monument. Surprisingly, the house prices have risen since the opening, that must be a first in Europe. The people from Surinam and Cape Verde have, for quite some time, campaigned for a National Slave Day and July 1st is to become the Dutch National Day for Slavery and a Nationwide holiday.

On July 1st 1863, exactly 150 years ago, all slaves in Surinam and the Netherlands Antilles were finally granted their freedom, this was 30 years after the British abolished the trade and the Netherlands eventually found their moral compass and followed suit; today, over 80,000 descendents from the Colonial Dutch Caribbean live in the city of Rotterdam, some are the direct descendants, others are related to the contracted workers who replaced the slaves after abolition. Other ethnic groups directly affected by slavery are those originally from the Cape Verdean Islands, off the West Coast of Africa and Rotterdam houses around 23,000 Cape Verdeans, one of which is the artist, Alex de Silva. Over the past year or so, the artist has been in regular contact, feeding in various snippets of news about the project; the on-going struggles of working to tight deadlines with the constant pressure of time and finding the right artisans and craftsmen to construct a monument on this scale and whether or not the different elements would weld together perfectly. What became obvious overtime was Alex’s overriding issue and concern of paying significant homage to the slaves of the past. It has been an honour that Alex has been generous enough to have kept me so up-to-date at all the different stages of his project. With the introduction of his first child, his daughter and the new role of fatherhood, these past two years have seen great personal change in the artist.  This new assignment for his adopted City of Rotterdam is the perfect time to acknowledge his responsibility as an International Artist but also to recognize the importance of the age of slavery and what it means to the black communities around the world. There is a general feeling that the wind has been taken from the sails of those slave-ships. The history stolen and almost rewritten - the evidence must bare the test of time and the black communities must be empowered to record the history correctly. 

Initially, Alex had tried to explain his vision for his commissioned civic statue but it is only now in the latter stages of the project I begin to comprehend the sheer scale of the project and start to understand the seriousness of his undertaking. Made out of a series of welded bright polished steel hand beaten panels, the work stands at 9m high and 5m wide. The work depicts the coming of age for slavery. The beautiful sculptured stainless steel figures look alien in the Rotterdam skyline and the abstract minimal ship blends perfectly with the surrounding architecture. At certain angles the structure becomes almost as abstract as Serra. The work is entitle "Clave", which is a music note used in many Central and South American music. The Clave is central to the Caribbean beat and features in the Salsa, Rumba, Latin Jazz and is the cornerstone of Cuban music in Afro Cuban rhythm. The work reads as much as a dance as it does a sculpture and hits all the right notes, as the figures are so perfectly moulded together and shine majestically in the Rotterdam skyline. Alex de Silva is the ideal choice and certainly the only artist in Rotterdam that could have produced such a majestic and thought provoking monument. The subject matter is truly heartfelt. The effects of slavery are so evident in his country of Cape Verde as it was an important place for the Portuguese to trade African slaves with their European partners. Alex de Silva, himself is Creole, a derivative of the verb criar ("to raise"), which was coined in the 15th century, in the trading and military outposts of Cape Verde; it originally referred to descendants of the Portuguese settlers who were born and "raised" locally. The word then spread to other languages adopted from Portuguese slave traders who supplied most of the slaves to South America throughout the 16th century, so he is the ideal artist for this project.

Slavery is a word that can often be simply thrown away or discarded in some way but in reality this barbaric trade in human life is far more serious than the Jewish Holocaust. The western world needs to snap out of its complacency and mark this horrific inhumanity to its fellowmen and women. To create a monument is a good start but this repugnant trade in human life warrants more magnitude in order to appease those that have been directly or in-directly affected and reflect on those that have gained. Personally, I believe that slavery is a subject that should always remain an open-sore and the best the world can do is to ensure it rarely becomes infected. Alex’s grand project is so spectacular and thankfully has been erected in the perfect location, at the mouth of the estuary leading into Rotterdam harbour. The work acts a beacon for all ships coming into Rotterdam, which is the largest port in Europe being part of the Nieuwe Mass (New Meuse), a channel in the delta formed by the Rhine and Meuse with flows out to the North Sea on one side and into the rivers lead directly into the heart of Europe on the other. These rivers include the industrial Ruhr region. Alex’s work will stand alongside the great work of Russian sculptor, Ossip Zadkine - De Verwoeste Stad “Destroyed City” a statue depicting the horror of the Nazi bombing in 1940, created in 1953. Ossip Zadkine, lived in Paris and was a great influence on the late Senegalese painter, Iba N’Daiye from St. Louis, Senegal but he later moved to Paris with his wife Francine. There are many similarities in Alex’s paintings that seem to note a hint of the African Master, Iba N’Diaye, and their lives slighted echo each other having the duality of the West African mix and European influence and training. Alex studied at the Williem de Kooning Academy of Art and Architecture in Rotterdam in 1999 and a then went to do a  Post graduate in 2000 at Minerva Academy, Groningen in the Netherlands. His new work now becomes as much a part of the cityscape as other world famous artists such as Rodin, Willem de Kooning and the fantastic architect, Rem Koolhaas and his iconic landmarks, which have shaped the modern landscape of Rotterdam.

Of recent times there have been calls for Slavery Museums to be designed and constructed in every major port around the world. In August 2007 saw the doors open to the Slavery Museum in Liverpool, England. Slavery Museum By early 2010 Liverpool saw its 1 millionth visitor. The success of this Museum has filtered over the Atlantic to America and considerations and plans are being made of building more monuments to honour the Slaves and start to document the rise of the African throughout the world. It is seen by many that the African Slave built the Modern World. Today maybe a time for real payback as each country involved with the Slave Trade should seriously consider investing and readdressing the issues of slavery. What would be ideal is to witness a real commitment within the private and public purses and funds pouring into the construction of Slave Museums. This will have the positive effect of engaging the black communities throughout the world to participate and be a part of the mapping of a brand new World. This would not only encourage engagement but lead to some genuine access to power, which before now, has been internationally denied. It would also promote a sense of ownership of a specific history but most importantly, it would go some way of creating a fairer global society. Black History should not last for just one month but be more of an annual event, lasting 365 days in the year. By building these Museums they will essentially start to address and engage the young and the restless. The Museums should be places where all the members of the world would want to come as they are dedicated to the rise of the African. Government and private enterprises should make it their civic duty to encourage their students or employees to visit the Museums on a regular basis. Many European countries are facing similar crisis of pockets of society feeling a sense of isolation and detachment and the responsibility lies in thinking laterally and starting to rebuild accordingly. For those interested in the rise of Africa, books should be written and films produced. The subject of slavery could have such a positive impact on those most ignored and become a booming industry and a new inventive economy controlled by the disenfranchised.

A surge of Slave Museums have popped up over the past 5 to 10 years. They seem extremely popular with the public, all of whom want to enjoy an illusionary moment of freedom but who benefits? The purpose of a Slave Museum surely is to empower the Black Communities, but instead they are run by the Establishment. We all know there is money in Slavery but this is perverse psychology. Slave Museums have opened in Cape Town, SA; Liverpool and London, England; in the US there is Washington DC, Memphis, Atlanta, Charleston, Maryland, Baltimore, New Orleans, Alexandria, VA and something here is not adding up. Africans are yet again denied the power of their past as this is all to do with ownership, which has always been denied to black people worldwide, it is as Sir Isaiah Berlin noted, this is a form of what he called “Orientalism”. Those that write the history own the minds of the people. This is unacceptable in the 21^st Century and needs to be reconsidered with some join-up thinking. There needs to be links into the Caribbean to Jamaica, Cuba and Trinidad, to South America to Brazil and Guyana and to Africa to Senegal, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria to Morocco and Egypt. The Abolition of Slavery in Mauritania came in 2007. It would be refreshing to see the Dutch act differently to the US and UK models of Slave Museums.

“The fate of Africa is that after slavery, colonialism, apartheid and neo-liberal globalization is that Africans are not agents of their lives. Definitions, agendas paradigms, and perspectives are still imposed by Europeans and others, who dominate all aspects of the African reality. Thus the image of Africa, the concepts of Africa imposed on the world are those created and controlled by non-African forces. Globalization is therefore not only an imposition of products, but also of ideas and ideals — at the expense of broader human diversity.”

Source: African Holocaust | http://www.africanholocaust.net/ 

Africa is the US and Europe’s best kept secret. These Museums have kept unsurprisingly quiet so that those in the Caribbean and the Continent of Africa are not aware of the honey-pot that they all have their paws imbedded in.  Who are the West trying to empower but those that are already established, this is dirty politics at its worst and hopefully the Netherlands will see the opportunities far clearer, than their international counterparts.

Author: Joe Pollitt

Here is the video of the unveiling. Superb.