Why you Should show…

…FacingDeath In Your Museum?

A museum is a non-profit, permanent institution in the service of society and its development, open to the public, which acquires, conserves, researches, communicates and exhibits the tangible and intangible heritage of humanity and its environment for the purposes of education, study and enjoyment.” Museum Definition, according to the ICOM Statutes.

Bronze was chosen instead of wax or plaster to catch an aspect of timelessness. Bronze works date back as far as 6000 years. Bronze underlines the duality of both dying and lasting, which is the essence of memorial work. FacingDeath helps to conserve the intangible heritage of death in humanity.

Death as a theme for museum exhibitions is becoming more and more popular world wide. However, hands-on material on death is scarce. FacingDeath offers your visitor an opportunity to walk along the circle of death masks – about 102 meters in distance – and to touch the faces of dead people.

How much space do you need for FacingDeath?

Each of the 102 bronze masks is mounted on a 40 x 40 cm pedestal, with one meter distance towards the next mask. Your visitor will keep looking at one of the faces for the time it takes him to make three slow steps. Set up in a circle you will need a round room of about 35 meters in diameter – or any square room exceeding that.

Or you may set up the 102 pedestals of FacingDeath in an outside area, each at least one meter apart, winding down through a park towards a river. Thus, the metaphorical quality of water of both being born and dying supports the message of FacingDeath. In this case you should have at least 150 to 200 meters in length to set up FacingDeath.

Further projects

In the space created inside a circle of 35 meters in diameter, you have in itself a stage that could be used for a large number of events connected to the theme of death. You could stage chamber music events, concerts with orchestra, soloists and choir, recitals of Lieder, readings, or theatrical performances. We give you a choice of programmes you could create.

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