Beacon Hands: for Emma Lazarus
2022, Will Pappenheimer with choreography by Freya Björg Olafson, an animated AR alternative monument for public installations #MakeUsVisible New York and #MakeUsVisible x denkFEmale Munich GDR organized by the XREnsemble

“Beacon-Hands” is a plural modified word quote from “The New Colossus” poem cast at the base of the Statue of Liberty in New York harbor. Less known is the poet and activist, Emma Lazarus, who wrote this striking and now poignant poem and 1883 to raise money for the pedestal. The poem calls for the casting off of powerful and idealistic gods from the classics to be replaced by a representation of humanity that welcomes the realities of diverse peoples who struggle for survival and improvement. This was a vision of a new America during a period of waves of immigration. This work is paired with the towering mid-19th century statue of Bavaria at Ruhmeshalle in Munich. This neoclassic figure was commissioned by Ludwig I as a female personification of the Bavarian homeland, the unification of its tribes, and by extension its strength and glory. In spite of some interesting similarities in the pose of both the Bavaria and Statue of Liberty figures, Bavaria appears to evoke themes inward of the power of nationalism whereas Emma Lazarus’s poem on the Statue of Liberty looks seaward welcomes a wider more diverse world that acknowledges the struggles of world populations. America is a destination; a promise for a chance for betterment and inclusion. These divergent visions, together with a number of other sub-themes, have arisen again in our current times and their high friction threatens both national and global stability.

2nd installation at the Statue of Liberty, NY December, 2022