Cannonball Heaven to see soon

The work Cannonball Heaven (2011) by the British-African artist Yinka Shonibare can be admired now to Wednesday April 24 in the Knights’ Hall of the castle. This beautiful work of art will appear on national television in one of the cultural programs during Museum Week. It’s still a surprise in which program! Cannonball Heaven was previously on display in a solo exhibition about Shonibare’s work, after which the artwork was purchased by the museum.

Cannonball Heaven

Colonial times

The artwork refers to colonial times, but also draws a parallel with current society. The work consists of a cannon, two figures (two naval officers) who together fire cannonballs at a corner of the room. There you can see a large mountain with cannonballs made of Vlisco fabrics. The cannon is a replica of the ones that sailed on HMS Victory. Because the cannonballs are made of cloth, like a kind of toy, the power of the British Empire is neutralized and softened. In that sense it is an impossible situation: war is suggested, but it is impossible to realize it. The power, symbolized by these fabric cannonballs, is impotent.

War & conflict

The work criticizes the reasons why war is waged. Shonibare states that wars are rarely actually fought to improve human rights, as is often given as a reason. The reference to HMS Victory is therefore a concrete example of British power over the sea, where the most important trade was conducted and which plays an important role in the history of this island. In reality, these wars were usually fought to secure power and territorial control, or for economic agendas. This illustrates the topicality of Yinka Shonibare’s work. He draws parallels between the present and the past. The urge to expand from the past is also reflected in our time, resulting in wars, flows of refugees and other humanitarian crises. Yinka Shonibare makes us aware of these motives and their consequences and questions them. His work thus functions as a starting point for discussions on current topics.

Lord Nelson, source of fascination for Shonibare

Cannonball Heaven is part of a larger theme within Yinka Shonibare’s work: his fascination with Lord Nelson, the captain of HMS Victory, and the important role this figure played in colonial history. Lord Nelson represents all colonial world powers in Shonibare’s work. For example, in Fake Death Pictures (2011) he shows how Lord Nelson died and in Addio del Passato (2011) his wife Frances sings about the sad relationship she had with him. In this way he makes the consequences of colonialism for the present visible in a poetic way.

Cannonball Heaven emerged from Shonibare’s research for his entry in the Fourth Plinth competition, which resulted in his public breakthrough: Nelson’s Ship in a Bottle (2010). This work consists of a replica of HMS Victory in a glass bottle, which was on display in London’s Trafalgar Square from May 2010 to January 2012 and is now owned by London’s National Maritime Museum. Cannonball Heaven essentially refers not only to the colonial history of Great Britain, but also that of countries such as Spain, Portugal and the Netherlands. It is therefore not surprising that the city of Madrid co-financed the production costs for this work for a traveling exhibition of his in Spain.