Stone block by Kris Martin to remain in the Ständehaus Park

“Under the Earth Shines the Sun”: this work, originally created by the Belgian artist Kris Martin for the exhibition “Beneath the Earth: From Kafka to Kippenberger” at the K21, will remain on permanent display in the Ständehaus Park after the exhibition project closes – an outcome that is a source of delight for us all. Not least because it allows us, in Düsseldorf, to become a part of the chapter of art history at whose center stands the internationally admired Belgian curator Jan Hoet.

Kris Martin was joined by a close friendship to the recently deceased director of the 9th Documenta. Hoet was the first to sponsor and support Martin, in a sense guiding him toward art. Martin was the young artist with whom Hoet absolutely wanted to work. That is why Kris Martin was so moved by Jan Hoet’s death. Hoet’s widow saw the stone piece in our exhibition, whereupon she conveyed to Kris Martin the request that it should serve as her late husband’s tombstone. After a period of reflection (since “our” exhibition object was never conceived as a gravestone), the artist consented to this proposal, but with the explicit instruction that the piece should remain in the Ständehaus Park.

The result of all of this was that a second version of our work was produced, and the duplicate surrendered to Hoet’s widow as a gravestone. Kris Martin told me that for him, the sun really did shine beneath the Earth now. A genuinely beautiful story, and at the same time a sad one.

And that is how it came about that I'm able to derive such personal satisfaction from the permanent installation here of this work, which emblematizes the way in which temporary, ephemeral exhibitions can bring new, enduring works of art into existence – works that have such moving stories to tell us.

Marion Ackermann
September 2014