Rosa

Susan Philipsz

26 April 2003

Sound installation. 1, 38 min. Interval: 1, 3 min.

This installation is related with a utopian time and collective action but also with the end of that time of hope that is signalled in the assassination of Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht. This song is a kind of requiem for two people who transcended national frontiers and were killed for their ideals. At the same time, it is also connected with the memory of the very building where the exhibition is being held, a place constructed in the image of another ideology, with which it wishes to establish an antagonist dialogue. Finally, it also touches on workers’ struggle and resistance through different eras, given that Rosa Luxemburg and Kart Liebknecht are two key examples of political action in favour of the interests of workers.