THE RIVER. V / the Monument. Epiloque 2025

EPILOGUE
THE RIVER is more than a political or social work – it is a timeless statement, a reflection of our shared human journey.
It flows through history, carrying the voices of those who have lived, those who live now, and those yet to come.
When I speak of "humanity," I mean all people – beyond borders, beyond beliefs, beyond the ties of family and nation. There is something universal that unites us: the essence of being human. My art seeks to capture this essence – the emotions, experiences, and struggles that connect us all.

At its core, THE RIVER is a tribute to humanity:
• It stands in the tradition of great memorials – from Maya Lin’s Vietnam Veterans Memorial to the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin.
• It merges performance, sculpture, and social intervention – echoing the work of Joseph Beuys, Marina
Abramović, and Santiago Sierra.
• It employs a simple yet profoundly charged material (rescue blankets), much like Ai Weiwei or the Arte
Povera movement.
• It has the potential to exist not only as a fleeting performance but as a permanent monument, cast in
bronze or brass in a public space – like the works of Richard Serra or Jenny Holzer.

THE RIVER is not just about remembrance or protest. It is a human response to inhumanity. A monument to those who have suffered. A monument to those who refuse to forget. And, above all, a monument to democracy.

Man’s sense of justice makes democracy possible.
His inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary.
— Reinhold Niebuhr

Democracy is our most precious possession. Preserving it is both a duty and a responsibility. It requires constant, determined, and self-aware engagement – a willingness to struggle for compromise and lasting consensus. These are the foundations of the only political order that can guarantee freedom.
— Wolfgang Thierse, President of the German Bundestag

Pampin, April 2025 Herbert W. H. Hundrich