As people became accustomed to reading air travel statistics and available flights as indicators of economic growth, 2020 marked a pivotal year of negative extremes. The total number of flights scheduled globally fell by 63 percent. Normally, 20,000 planes would be in the air simultaneously, but more than 16,000 planes were grounded. As two-thirds of the commercial fleet remained on the ground, the once-reliable growth indicator turned into a logistical nightmare. The unprecedented number of non-operational planes worldwide symbolized an economic shutdown of an extent not previously seen.
The project E Pluribus Unum seeks to acknowledge and remember this critical moment in the 21st century and raise awareness about the nature of being “grounded” on Earth. It derives from a relic of the recent past—a modern fossil—that reminds us that it is not economic success, but rather natural resources, that constrain the “growth” of a global economy. After a year marked by a global pandemic, many people realized the undeniable need for change. Growing awareness of environmental issues, particularly those caused by anthropogenic climate change, has become a major challenge for the survival of humankind. The ability to shut down nearly all global activities—once considered indispensable in Winter 2019—suggests a promising potential for practical change toward a resource-friendly, de-growth economy. Yet, the question remains: Will technical innovations, social revolutions, new ideas, and lifestyles converge into a shared vision that leads us from the familiar life of the past into an unknown future that provides a sustainable way forward?
To commemorate this potentially unique moment in modern history, the proposed artwork will serve as a reminder of the iconic symbol of “economic growth”—the rising arrow—while also referring to a physical source composed of countless fine cracks. These cracks form the remains of a former guidance signal on an abandoned airfield.
The project consists of three conceptually intertwined layers: the place, the object, and the method. During the lockdown in April 2020, the artist frequently walked along the former airfield at Berlin Tempelhof. Behind a vast, over 1,000-meter-long building, which still evokes the imperialistic dreams of Nazi Germany, the artist discovered 20-meter-long arrows on a runway that once pointed westward. These visual markers were once used to signal pilots to halt their aircraft and await clearance for take-off. Today, they stand as archaeological remnants of a bygone era of modernity. The passage of time, combined with a lack of maintenance, caused the paint of the signals to crack into countless fine-veined lines, resembling the handwriting of time itself, legible to anyone who looks closely.
Drawing on her print-making techniques from previous works such as The Altarpiece (2015), Am Hegelplatz (2010), or Hai Khalil (2016), Nadia Kaabi-Linke will transpose the cracked signal onto silk and then onto canvases of various sizes. The framed canvases will be arranged at different heights and positions, assembling into a chaotic cloud of discontinuous elements that recall familiar diagrams of economic growth. Yet, amidst the apparent disorder, there will be a common thread—each fine detail of the cracks will contribute to reconstructing the former symbol on the runway.
This work serves as a metaphor for our time in 2021. It invites reflection on the need to find answers to the problems we have created ourselves. Solutions that might hold the potential to bring us together, guiding us toward a shared future. If each fine crack in the prints represents one of us, the answer to what takes us into the future is clear: it is the sum of all of us.