Der Wilden Mann.
Thus Sprach Flotsam; Metamorphosis 3

“The year is 3001 AD, although that number means little to the 68,000 inhabitants of earth. To them, the year is 665- the number of years since Flotsam’s industrial age bestowments of fossil energy and nuclear fission had fallen into collection- with a cataclysm that all but erased civilization. Urban infrastructure, digital technology, and boundaries of geography, politics, and religion have long since been forgotten.

Flotsam’s travelling carnival has arrived at a rustic village in what was once the city of Uppsala, Sweden. He is hosting games and enticing bettors like always, but this year is special. It is the year of Blot- the offering to the Gods which arrives every seventh year. Many prizes will be awarded, but one will be the grandest. There is palpable tension in the air, as we are nearing the day of the choosing of the Harvest Princess.”   -Pages 13-14. “Thus Sprach Flotsam”

In “Der Wilden Mann”, Shine explores, or rather mutates, the Neitzschean theme of constant transformation. In his book “Thus Sprach Zarathustra”, Frederich Neitzsche describes a process called the Three Metamorphoses. Zarathustra exclaims, “I name you three metamorphoses of the spirit: how the spirit shall become a camel, the camel a lion, and the lion at last a child.” 

Flotsam- the Faustian carny who is central to Shine’s installations, has put his own twist on Zarathustra’s teachings. Through millenniums of Faustian bargains, Flotsam has deftly guided Mankind into its third metamorphosis; the modern-primitive- the Wild Man.

The world of Der Wilden Mann may be rustic and primitive, but it ironically represents the apex of Flotsam’s cycle, mankind in its most enlightened form. Like Neitzsche’s Child, Der Wilden Mann is free from the shackles of commandments, prejudice, propaganda, religious agenda, and so forth- and can begin anew.

But Flotsam is up to his old tricks, and will be upping his game to begin the cycle anew. What bargains will he offer to entice Mankind? What deals will he swing to push us forward into a new millenium? How will the new deals differ from those of the past?

Will we make the same mistakes all over again?