Kiwi artist Kingsley Baird is building a World War I memorial out of Anzac biscuits. The Wellington-based artist says the ‘mass grave’ will depict soldiers from Australia, New Zealand, France and Germany and will be exhibited in European museums.
‘It is really important that it gets people to reflect on the war, on sacrifice, on the consumption of servicemen and -women in conflict,’ Baird told AAP.
The installation, aptly named Tomb, consists of 18,000 Anzac biscuits shaped like soldiers, which will be baked by French bakers. Baird will then assemble the biscuits into one grand memorial. The use of the Anzac biscuit is particularly significant to the installation, as this sweet oatmeal biscuit was often sent overseas to soldiers during the war.
Baird, who is an associate professor of creative arts at Massey University, said the memorial is concerned with the nature of memory.
‘Memorials are often built out of stone and bronze, and with that comes a concept of memory lasting forever,’ Baird told Stuff.Co.Nz. ‘But it doesn’t last forever. It’s about the short-lived nature of memory.’
The Museum of the Great War in northern France will be the first to set eyes on the biscuit memorial, where it will remain on show for eight months starting in April. It will then move to the Bundeswehr Military History Museum in Dresden, Germany.
‘The difference in this work in Germany is that visitors to the museum will be invited to eat the memorial,’ Baird said.
The sculpture will take the shape of the Stone of Remembrance and will not use any glue or icing to hold the biscuits together.
‘It’s always possible someone could lean on it, but it’s no different to any other fragile work of art,’ Baird said.
For those thinking they might like to make their own biscuit memorial installation, the ingredients – which include 120kg of flour, 90kg of golden syrup, 80kg of butter, 70kg of sugar, 50kg of oats, 40kg of eggs, 20kg of coconut, 20kg of wholemeal flour and 3kg of baking flour – are likely to cost around $6000.
