Porträt Johannes Stelling, 2021
Photo paper, wood, steel chain, electric motor, fan
300x200 cm
Köpenick Court Prison, Berlin
The installation for the Day of the Open Monument 2021 deals with the history of the location: representing many of those murdered here during the Köpenick Blood Week in June 1933, the portrait of SPD Reichstag deputy Johannes Stelling, cut into strips and slowly rotating around its own axis, is repeatedly blown apart by a fan. Stelling’s distinctive features are only recognizable for brief moments before they dissolve again in the swirl of paper strips. The constant repetition of this process emphasizes the futility of our efforts to even begin to do justice to the suffering of the victims of Nazi terror through ritual remembrance.