Bloody Hi-Stories
A Historico-Cultural Foray into the World of Crime

Exhibition in the State Hall of the Austrian National Library

Exhibition in the State Hall of the Austrian National Library
8 May to 2 November 2008

http://www.onb.ac.at/ausstellungen/blutigegeschichten/index.htm
“Blood is part of the cement of world history”(Theodor Fontane). Large parts of history have been determined by wars and genocides, as well as assaults. Besides the oral tradition and images, the written word is a prerequisite for passing on “hi-stories”.

Conceived as a historico-cultural foray, the exhibition at the State Hall deals with the phenomenon of violent crime and its various causes and consequences, with the great diversity of the Austrian National Library’s collections allowing us to look at the subject from different perspectives: precious manuscripts, books, and photographs attest to the special interest of mankind in that comprehensive theme, ranging from attacks to the martyrdom of saints, from cannibalism and lynching to assassinations, from ritual murder to genocide. One of the reason for the fascination of this subject lies in man’s nature, as was already presumed by Goethe: “I see no fault committed that I myself could not have committed at some time or other.”

Cases of violent crime vary as much as do the motives they are based on. “Looking at it from the right perspective, every man deserves death” (Jack London). This multifaceted exhibition, which besides theological aspects also embraces the wide fields of jurisprudence, art history, cultural studies, ethnology, and sociology, also offers drastic insights into the administration of justice and the work of the police. Just as historiography seems to be a sequence of martial conflicts, daily news coverage seems to be based on ever-new criminal episodes, with murder and manslaughter determining the headlines – “Bad news is good news”. Such bloody stories occur in all social strata, and the motives for murder and manslaughter – hatred, revenge, envy, jealousy, distrust, ostracism, and political calculation – are presaged in the great myths of mankind.

Visitors are introduced to the subject by Cain’s biblical fratricide of his brother Abel. Subsequently, violence was also directed at the first unerring followers of Christ, with the broad field of the martyrdom of saints being documented in numerous magnificent manuscripts.

Human sacrifice, ritual murder, and cannibalism are further aspects of the subject, linking religious intent with ethnological tradition. Human sacrifice, spanning from Abraham and Issac to Iphigenia, occurs in all of the important myths – mostly as the highest proof of loyalty towards divine powers. Classical and Nordic mythology presents heroes such as Odysseus, Achilles, and Siegfried, who are not only characterized by extraordinary courage, but also by breathtaking cruelty in battle. These prefigurations of the heroic type influenced the generations to come and still breed new and even more bloodthirsty imitators.

Powerful women, with their proverbial “female cunning”, are still dwarfed by these male heroic figures, although committing murders just as bizarre – often involving mighty and physically superior men. Delilah, for instance, caused the downfall of the giant Samson, as did Judith in the case of Holofernes and Salome in that of Saint John. However, women turned out to be the losers when they were suspected of witchcraft.

The issue of the “just murder” of despots, tyrants, dictators, and other rulers who emerged as slaughterers and misanthropes likewise arose very early in the history of humanity, ranging from the murder of tyrants in antiquity to assassinations in modern history. The exhibition views both victims and culprits, looking into the glorification of the victims of assassinations (such as Empress Elizabeth of Austria, killed in Geneva in 1898) and the instrumentalisation of failed attempts as signs of divine fate.

Later on, the focus of the show is on the broad sphere of criminalistics – dealing with delinquents’ careers, criminals’ physiognomies, police investigation and its technological progress, the administration of justice, as well as the state monopoly on the use of force.

Literature and the media soon devoted themselves to the world of crime, being interested not only in crimes as such, but also in the perpetrators and their motives. During the Enlightenment, moral aspects were put aside, in order to be able to expose the ingenious and bestial traits of criminals. This heralded the birth of the crime novel. Curiosity, sensationalism, blank horror, and a secret admiration for particularly cleverly contrived crimes and the “ingenious evil” are the ingredients that have ensured the success of the genre of the crime novel to this very day.

The new media establishing themselves in the 20th century, such as film, radio, television, and video games, have confirmed the triumph of crime stories as a profitable entertainment genre guaranteeing high ratings. “Desk murderers” are thus constantly and tirelessly producing new cases. “Since Lucrezia Borgia I have been the woman who has killed the most people, if only with the typewriter” Agatha Christie(1890-1976).

The exhibition concldes with a juxtaposition of fantasies of violence and utopias of peace, under the motto of Mahatma Gandhi’s warning: “An eye for an eye – and the whole world will be blind.”

====

这个展览既血腥，也高明。虽然未提Mauthausen。