Ülle Madise: I need no theater to remind me life is nasty, brutish and short
Chancellor of Justice Ülle Madise gets so much information during a regular day's work which reminds her of the brevity, cruelty, and injustice of life, that she tends to tune out movies, plays and other works which might reinforce this.
Speaking to ERR's Katrin Viirpalu, presenter of culture show "Elamus," the Chancellor of Justice revealed her life experience takes in an unusually large proportion of the natural world.
Madise said: "This has always been very important to me, throughout my life."
"The comings and goings every year of flocks of birds forms an experience for me, and so it was the case this year as well. We were trying to pick the last apples from the top of our orchard trees just ahead of an icy rainfall, which we succeeded in doing, right at that moment, the wild geese were hurrying south, with their cries."
"Then I recalled how in the spring, when we were pruning those same trees, the geese were just coming in," she reflected.
Madise said that she tries to live in such a way that every day contains some joy, or experiences, in the best sense of the word. "An experience could also be very sad and drag you down, but I would try to avoid that type where possible.
"I tend not to watch movies, for example, intentionally at least, which leave you realizing you have lost your zest for life, or a theater performance where you understand that life can be nasty, brutish and sad," the justice chancellor continued.
"I won't start to name the summer performance I saw this year, but after it was over, I thought that I would now have to work hard on mentally forgetting some of the terrible and cruel images that the play evoked in me. I feel horror very deeply, and it haunts me for a long time.
"When injustice and pain are inflicted on children or animals, I really can't tolerate it," said Madise, who constantly receives information in her daily work indeed points to life being nasty, brutish and short, as Thomas Hobbes put it in a very different time and place.
"Theater is certainly not somewhere where I need further affirmation of this realization. So I would rather watch something that can show it is possible for a person to prevail, and to endure unjust and sad events. If something seems completely irrational, then transforming it into absurdity or surrealism, and rising above it, is viable," Madise concluded.
In the rest of her conversation, the justice chancellor expressed a strong desire to visit the Faroe Islands, to witness the sea in its most tumultuous state,
This was inspired in part by the Iris Murdoch novel "The Sea, The Sea," she said, and its vivid descriptions of the ocean.
While watching one of the various Scandinavian thriller series out there, Madise suggested the idea to her partner, and the trip became a reality. They got to experience clear skies, a relative rarity over the Faroes, and the more familiar strong winds, all accompanied by multiple rainbows; an almost surreal sight, she said.
Despite the harsh weather conditions, Madise observed that the Faroe Islands' population of 54,000 continues to grow, with locals, including children, embracing the challenging conditions cheerfully.
Reflecting on another past trip, Madise also recommended the former Völklingen steelworks in Germany, now an exhibition space, as a destination worth visiting due to its blend of architecture and art.
As for surrealism, Madise shared a personal highlight from visiting Salvador Dalí's house in Cadaqués, in Portugal, and praised the artist's humorous approach to life and art.
Madise said admired Dalí's playful nature and felt she would have enjoyed knowing him, given his unique ability to make life's absurdity amusing, through his work.
Appointed by the Riigikogu, the justice chancellor's role is to act as independent supervisor of the basic principles of the Constitution of Estonia and the protector of individual human and social rights, human dignity and equality, and the rule of law.
Madise has held the position since 2015.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte, Neit-Eerik Nestor
Source: "Elamus", interviewer Katrin Viirpalu