säulen der erinnerung – pillars of memory
art meets contemporary history in public space
"we need to restore the past to make the future possible."
(jean-luc godard)
public space with its memorials is in some sense the spatial zone of non-privacy, the obverse of individual memory. public space can be seen as a vehicle of collective memory, wherein memorials serve as pillars of non-oblivion and awareness of collective history. individual memory, on the other hand, is that zone where individual past is stored. evoking and touching private memories within public space is therefore, regardless of their content, provocative in itself.
the temporary art project „säulen der erinnerung – pillars of memory“ is not mainly about admonition, commemoration or provocation, but the starting point of a process which makes public space a vehicle of discourse with the past. this happens in two ways: first, by changing the name of the yppenplatz to "edith arlen wachtel and walter arlen piazza" for eight months; secondly, by having artists design advertising pillars.
"there is nothing in this world more invisible than memorials."
(robert musil)
on behalf of all the victims of national socialism, edith arlen wachtel and walter arlen are placed in the centre of the arts project „säulen der erinnerung – pillars of memory“. both are jewish emigrants, who grew up in ottakring and are grandchildren of the founder of the retail store dichter. as living images of memory, they are brought back to the place where they spent their childhood and youth in the 1920s and 30s: the brunnenmarkt in the 16th district of vienna.
since 2005 and over the course of several exhibitions, "grundstein" has addressed the history of the dichter family and their store, which they owned until 1938. 2006, the "sammlung dichter" was brought into being as an homage to the exiled family. in october 2007, edith arlen wachtel and walter arlen visited vienna during the exhibition "dichter herbst", resulting in a close relationship to many of the exhibiting artists.
künstlerInnen:
eva brunner szabo, martina gasser, behruz heschmat, hiroko inuoe, jakob lediger, ernst logar, martin krenn, elizabeth mcglynn, paul roza, arno schmid, richard schütz, roland schütz, wechselstrom (renate pittroff, christoph theiler), wienstation, hans jörg zauner
künstlerische leitung:
eva brunner szabo, richard schütz, roland schütz
idee und koordination:
heinrich schneider
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