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Legacy of Power was created during a research trip to Rome in April 2023 by the Film/Video class of the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf as part of the academy’s 250th anniversary celebrations.

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The work was inspired by the monumental sculpture of the Nile located on the left side of the staircase in front of the Palazzo Senatorio. The sculpture was relocated by Michelangelo in the sixteenth century from the Tempio di Serapide to its current location. It depicts a male figure holding a cornucopia and leaning against a sphinx.

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During my time in Rome, among its many historical landmarks are eight of the world’s twenty-nine surviving Egyptian obelisks. These monuments bear witness to power, conquest, and the human desire to make authority visible and enduring.

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Throughout history, people have continuously erected monuments, statues, and symbols to commemorate power, preserve memory, and project values into the future. This observation became the starting point for an AI-generated video poem that reflects on the emergence, persistence, and disappearance of such symbols of power.

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