Banality of Evil
In Our Daily Lives
A CROWD-DRIVEN INTERNATIONAL ART PROJECT
A WORD FROM THE INITIATOR OF THE PROJECT
Can one do evil without being evil?
This was the essential question Hannah Arendt asked herself when she reported for the New Yorker in 1961 in the trial against Adolph Eichmann, the former head of the “Central Office for Jewish Emigration” who was involved in the organization of the expulsion and deportation of the Jews and who was jointly responsible for the murder of an estimated six million people.Arendt came to the conclusion: “As cruel, cold-hearted, and in their extent monstrous as the deeds for which Eichmann was responsible were, so ordinary, even so banal was the human being who stood for these deeds. She called this thoughtlessness the “banality of evil.”
“The Banality of Evil in our Daily Lives art prize was conceptualized by the artist SaySay.Love. As a seeker of truth, he was inspired by these writings. He immediately felt a strong connection with the subject matter. The idea that many of history’s greatest evils, instead of being carried out by fanatics or sociopaths, were instead done by ordinary people who accepted the premises of their state and thus their actions, as “normal.”
Ultimately, the question arises from which perspectives we can view the banality of evil in everyday life. Everyone defines for themselves the boundary between good and evil, right and wrong. Just as dualism itself can only exist within its own contradiction, it is the responsibility of each individual to consciously perceive and question the boundaries associated with and created by himself.
SaySay.Love proposes that art can change minds and hearts. It is a way to understand us as part of a bigger whole, to dissolve boundaries and to support us as an indicator of the conscious in relation to profound paradigm shifts in the vitality of independent thinking.
“There are two sides to being human. There is a side that destroys and one that cares and loves. One has to decide for himself which side you want to live on”
ABOUT THE ARTIST AND VISUAL ACTIVIST
German artist, SaySay.Love draws inspiration from social issues affecting the world around him. SaySay.Love shares his unique way of seeing the world through the work he creates. Born with an optical disability that affects his ability to see the world three-dimensionally, SaySay.Love has a different perspective which comes across in his suggestive and provocative work.
Art is a challenge among people to create something more interesting. His photography is layered with symbolism and based on his emotional experiences and reflections on the social issues. SaySay.Love is passionate about education and the role it plays in social change, supporting a number of charities with the proceeds of his work.
His exhibitions have dealt with the theme of water, highlighting issues around water conservation and the real threat that major cities will run out of water in the future (Gift of Water, Matrix of Water & There is No Water – 2018); as well as highlighting issues around intimacy and loneliness amongst people in today’s digital world (Skin Deep, Intimate Loneliness – Faked Perfection – 2019)