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Hon'ble Secretary, Ministry of Culture, Shri Badal K. Das Charge d' Affairs, Embassy of Federal Republic of Germany Mr, Julius Georg Luy,
Mt. Gunther Uecker, Artist of this evening
Dr. Stefan Dreyer, Regional Director South Asia, Max Mueller
Bhavan
Mr R.C. Mishra, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Culture Distinguished guests ladies and gentlemen

A very warm welcome to all of you. National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi, in collaboration with Max Mueller Bhavan, presents an exhibition of multi-material sculptural installations titled : The Mistreated Man: 14 Pacified Implements by the German Artist Guntlier Ueckers,

"My subject is life and death, my failure is my art", says Guntlier Uecker, an internationally renowned artist and recipient of several awards. Much of Uecker’s work is like an inner portrait that reflects his vision of life and suffering.

It's a privilege for us to showcase his works under the cultural exchange programme with Germany. Through these large installations, the artist portrays human pathos and misery that is common to all mankind. He processes experiences, registers feelings and reveals basic human drives such as aggression, injury and destruction that he counters with conciliatory gestures. His work is important in an international

context because so much of it is a reaction to the injury of human being by human being.

The artist has used multi-material in a style that is typical of his work with slats of wood, linen, stones, ash, sand, pages of writing and nails (Uecker became famous as the man of nails). The first Gulf War and the ongoing violence against foreigners in Germany form the background to these works that were created in 1992-93.

This exhibition grew out of the idea of creating a piece of work that would stand as a self-portrait of the artist, at the same time describing the present state of play of his work and looking back at the past. Gunther Uecker made the work between autumn 1992 and spring 1993 in his workshop in a former warehouse in the Dusseldorf docks. The fact that the work has gone well beyond mere self-reflection is due to the deeply distressing nature of so much of our present times and circumstances. Thus it is not only Uecker's own art which is the subject of his work, but also his reaction to the violence being perpetrated against people in Germany today, his reaction to the xenophobia found all over the country and to the abuse lately being heaped on anyone who dares to think differently. With these fourteen objects or Implements - as Uecker himself calls them- is something like an inner portrait, he shares with us his vision of life and life's suffering. We see aggression, injury and destruction countered by gestures of reconciliation and protection.

These implements-now pacified-are no longer capable of attacking or injuring. They themselves have now become the victims, a useless,

pathetic array of instruments. As it happens there are fourteen of them, bringing to mind thoughts of the Stations of the Cross. Throughout the history of humankind there have words for all forms of aggressions. Uecker took all but a few of these from the Bible, wrote them down in a tear-laden hand, first in German like a confession of guilt, and then again in the languages of the lands that this exhibition will pass through. Since Uecker is both perpetrator and victim in this work, it is both a confession and a memorial-not just a one-sided attribution of blame. Uecker's work on this piece was extensively documented in photographs. There is also a video film titled "Poetry of Destruction" which accompanies the exhibition showing the artist in action- making and doing, injuring and binding the wounds he has meted out. Thus the theme of exhibition is the suffering caused by man's inhumanity to man- suffering that is shared by the artist. With this work Uecker seeks to redefine himself in our present time, it is clearly not only a significant document of our time but also shows Uecker adopting a radically new position as an artist.

I am reminded of a few lines which reads like this
"The Everest......

These works of art are survivors of Uecker's encounter. 

Thank you