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Jan Theuninck's 2010 conceptual artwork Exiled in my own country (a staged photograph of the artist sitting on the ground, appearing defeated or dead, beside a sign bearing the title) directly evokes and parallels the historical phenomenon of innere Emigration ("inner emigration") during the Nazi era (1933–1945).Core Thematic Similarity: Internal Exile Without Physical DepartureThe phrase "exiled in my own country" perfectly captures the essence of innere Emigration — a term used to describe German and Austrian intellectuals, writers, and artists who remained physically in the Third Reich but withdrew inwardly. They rejected Nazi ideology, feeling profoundly alienated, silenced, or spiritually banished in their homeland due to censorship, persecution, and a hostile cultural climate.
Theuninck's title and the artwork's title literalize this psychological state. The staged "corpse" symbolizes the living death or total defeat of the self in an excluding society, mirroring how inner emigrants often described feeling like strangers or ghosts in their own land.Parallel to the Nazi Period (1930s–1940s)Theuninck explicitly links his work to the 1930s, quoting Rabbi Tamarah Benima ("I see exclusion just like in the 30s") and addressing the creation of "internal enemies" through fear, suspicion, and scapegoating of the "other" (including those who are similar or close). This echoes the Nazi tactic of portraying Jews, modern artists, intellectuals, and political dissidents as insidious threats, leading to social exclusion, dehumanization, and worse.
The artwork includes a poem evoking the antisemitic trope of the "man of eternal wandering" (the mythical Wandering Jew)(1), denied tolerance and effectively exiled even at home. The note "il a fini par sauter..." ("he ended up jumping...")(2) alludes to despair-driven suicides during the Nazi era. Thus, Theuninck warns of recurring patterns of exclusion in contemporary (2010-era) Europe, using the same language of internal exile.
In summary, Theuninck's 2010 piece is a deliberate, contemporary artistic invocation of innere Emigration, using its defining sentiment — exile without leaving — to critique resurgent exclusionary politics, embodying the historical suffering of artists who endured the original Nazi version of this internal banishment. The work functions as both memorial and warning.
Notes:
1. SON OF THE WIND
2. il a fini par sauter... (Jan Theuninck, 2010)
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In his participation on the Wreading-digits’ “Art in Quarentine” call, 2020, artist Jan Theuninck presented a photo of himself as a prostrated, apparently depressed, street beggar near a written sign Exiled in my own Country, which also gives the title to the work
Quoted in A Fracture in a Broken Crystal: Artists’ Precarity Under Crisis by António M. Duarte (University of Lisbon, Faculdade de Psicologia)
https://repositorio.ul.pt/bitstream/10451/62339/1/Duarte%20-%20A%20fracture%20in%20a%20broken%20crystal.pdf
https://repositorio.ulisboa.pt/server/api/core/bitstreams/73143d0b-0d4e-4de8-a76a-704be5745ff8/content
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Isabel Pochini in Identifique-se
Exposição de Mail Art, uma poética compartilhada
São Paulo
2015
Trabalho de Conclusão de Curso apresentado à Universidade “Júlio de Mesquita Filho”
– UNESP como requisito para obtenção do título de Bacharel em Artes Visuais.
Orientador: Professor Dr. Norberto Stori
São Paulo State University (Unesp)
PARTICIPANTES INTERNACIONAIS:
Alexander Limarev (Sibéria) - Cecilia Audagna (Argentina) - Cinzia Farina (Itália) - Clemente Padin (Uruguai)
- Daniel Cullá (Espanha) - Jan Theuninck (Bélgica) - Juan López de Ael (Espanha) - Mikhail Pogarsky (Rússia)
- Rafael Murió (Austrália) - Raquel Gociol (Argentina) - Samuel Montalvetti (Argentina) - Terezinha
Malaquias (Alemanha
https://repositorio.unesp.br/server/api/core/bitstreams/d89046e3-80b0-4215-9e8d-50437e6c06fb/content