++++ "I think that's pretty stupid, lighthouses on the Main," comments the blonde woman skating by. And she would be right if what was floating on the River Main near Städel was a lighthouse. In fact, however, it is an observation post of the Icelandic Army which has taken up position on the banks of the Main for the duration of Manifesta.
Antal Lakner positioned it there along with a container in which the Navy and Army uniforms are exhibited along with a kind of tin coffin with viewing slits. The project, The Icelandic Army, describes a fictitious unarmed army which, because of the lack of any military threat, fulfils solely defensive and observational roles. For this, Lakner, who was born in 1966 and lives in Budapest, has developed a diversity of implements. The green tin coffin in the container, for instance, is called Turtle and has a flap in the front to climb in and out of it, and can be positioned anywhere by means of the practical handles on the side, anywhere, that is, where observation is needed. The positioning of Turtle in Iceland can be understood by looking at a map which also shows the territories of deployment for the unfortunate lighthouse. It bears the name Plankton, looks a little bit like a thimble with a flag which has become too large and turned upside down, and has been designed for observing from the water.
Lakner's works move in the twilight zone between fiction and reality, seriousness and the irony, plaything and deadly earnestness. In realizing his projects, he places a great deal of importance on not allowing the fiction to be recognized as such. Everything seems to be professional and well-thought-through and could just as well be authentic. Only the provisional nature of the execution of Turtle and Plankton provides a clue that these are fanciful objects. In Turtle you can only look through the viewing slits lying flat on the ground for a maximum of ten minutes before your limbs have fallen asleep. The prescribed posture for the occupants of Plankton, too, also does not seem to be particularly comfortable, apart from the fact the thing sways dangerously back and forth even in the gentle waves of the River Main. What would it be like on the North Sea? Heaven forbid! jdv