Patrik Proško

Plague Column – site specific permasculpture, 420x140x60 cm, concrete, things from the sea, Pinang Island, Aceh, Indonesia 2022 Since the second half of the 16th century, plague columns were built all around Europe to remind the people of past plague epidemics, to protect the cities they were built in from another one, and as gestures of gratitude for the end of the last one. When a new epidemic eventually struck, the columns were often consecrated and used as altars for outdoor church services, since churches were closed due to hygienic reasons. The term “plague column” was then sometimes used even for other types of columns commemorating different kinds of tragedy, such as war. The plastic plague, spreading uncontrollably over the whole planet, is becoming more and more the tragedy of our age with Asian countries being affected the most of all, even on remote, virtually uninhabited islands. The Plague Column built on Pinang Island using concrete and plastic products that the sea has washed up on the shore is supposed to serve Indonesia as a reminder for the future generations of our way of life. For now, it can’t, however, serve as a gesture of gratitude for the end of the plague. It rather serves to accentuate its current state, as well as a tribal totem or an altar built on a tree stump imitating its trunk. It represents a colourful figure and a funny clown with a bowtie around his neck, and also an absurd space rocket about to take off, accelerating this earthly problem we have up into the cosmos because that’s where our plague will spread when there’s not enough space left for it on Earth. However, just as the previous generations managed to get rid of plague epidemics almost completely, it’s very well possible that the future generations will manage to get rid of our own civilizational plague, too, and that this column will remain only a reminder of it, a protection against it, and a gesture of gratitude for its end. At least, I hope so, but I don’t feel like waiting for the future generations.