Nothing is finished, everything continues
For the artwork regarding Marga Minco (1920-2023), I have compiled a maxim by combining two sentences from two different books by the writer.
This maxim couples ‘nothing is finished’ with ‘everything continues’. The first quote derives from ‘The Fall’, written in 1983; the other is from ‘An Empty House’ published in1967. I chose this text for the figuration for artistic reasons; this may not only be appropriate for the column and the person, but it may also be read in several ways.
The combined statement ‘Nothing is finished, everything continues’ covers her preoccupations. Thematically, her work involves description of the ‘trauma’ of unremitting memories of war. As part of the artwork, the maxim becomes ambiguous, open to many interpretations, of all times and for all times, for everyone.
The antipoles ‘Nothing’ and ‘Everything’, ‘finished’ and ‘continues’ unite in the statement. ‘Nothing is finished, everything continues’ may be seen as a variant of the philosophical assertion’ ‘panta rhei’: ‘everything moves’.
Moreover, the figuration involves repetition, an ongoing ‘continuum’. The same thing is literally said twice. In fact, the meaning of ‘Nothing is finished’ is equivalent to ‘Everything continues’.
The artwork for Marga Minco refers to the last century, and at the same time we can immediately relate the maxim to the present day – 2024, the year the artwork was installed at the time of the genocide in Gaza and the war in Ukraine. The stone for Marga Minco reads essentially the same as ‘What has happened, is happening again’, ‘Never again is now’, but then in different words.
From top to bottom – and in opposite directions -, we read backwards and forwards through time: ‘Everything continues, nothing is finished’, ‘Nothing is finished, everything continues’.
MS
Photo
‘Nothing is finished, everything continues’, column, 80cm x 80cm x 40cm.
Biography
Marga Minco was a Dutch writer of ‘humorous, absurdist stories and evocative, simple tales’. Her frequently translated chronicle of war, ‘Het bittere kruid’ 1957 (Bitter Herbs) is a classic of European literature on the Second World War. In 2005, she received the Constantijn Hugensprijs for her complete oeuvre and the P.C.Hooftprijs in 2019.
Artwork: You Are Here
Artist: Martijn Sandberg
Material: concrete
Measurements: (lxwxh) 80cm x 80cm x 40cm
Project: Legacy of the Twentieth Century
Realisation and completion: 2019
Location: Oranje Vrijstaatkade, Oostpoort, Amsterdam
Commissioned by: Amsterdam Municipality, District Oost