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Still image from “Gateway in Time”

Heavy metal has often been divisive music since the late 1960’s. For some it was pure evil - the manifestation of degraded morals and dark energy in a rapidly changing world. For others it represented a liberation from oppressive ideologies, beckoning like a siren from the gates of a promising future. Whatever your stance, with metal the question remained: how to balance the two worlds of good and bad? Should you denounce or embrace?

The song “Child in Time”, by British band Deep Purple was written at the height of the Cold War and a raging Vietnam conflict. It touches upon the tension that was felt by many around at the time, and a fear for escalation. Fifty-five years later, artist Jeroen Offerman spends six months learning to sing the song in reverse. So prepared, he goes up to Berlin's Brandenburger Gate to perform it in front of a stationary camera and an audience of accidental passersby, exactly where a wall once divided the city in two.

Offerman's performance deals with the notion of how we draw lines and boundaries to differentiate ourselves from one another. Are we on rewind?

Credits: Jeroen Offerman

(reworked) music: Child in Time (1970) by Deep Purple

Lyrics originally sung and written by Ian Gillan

On-set assistance: Patrick Blasa

Lots of love & many thanks to Ava, Liene & Marjan Offerman for their endless support

Sweet child, in time, you’ll see the line

The line that’s drawn between good and bad

See the blind man shooting at the world

Bullits flying, oh, taking toll

If you’ve been bad, Lord, I bet you have

And you’ve not been hit, oh, by flying lead

You’d better close your eyes

Oh, bow your head

Wait for the ricochet

© Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

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