Half-erased messages on the black, rectangular, pastel-stained posters of Kaspar Bonnén’s mural read Freedom, Value, Growth, Happiness, Responsibility, Society and Order. The layered posters overlap one another behind the windows of the building, which make up the outer layer and incorporate into the work, occasionally covering the myriad messages.
The phrases are chosen to highlight some of the basic conditons we face in our rational, achievement-oriented society where concepts such as freedom and happiness are a minority in the face of the typical tenets of politicians and the business world: order, growth, value and responsibility.
Bonnén reminds us of our influence in the world in the title of his work: Gør det venligst. “We” in this case are the people, represented by outstretched arms at the bottom of the painting. They are visible only as arms and hands: some holding up their banners; others stretching upwards, as if losing momentum; yet others clenching into fists or stylized to look like spanners or tools.
b. 1968 in Copenhagen, where he lives and works.
