AndersErinnern

2020-present
Berlin, Germany

This multi-phased and ongoing collaborative counter-memorial at Haus der Statistik in central Berlin interrogates Germany’s exceptionalism around remembrance practices. The process engages with a Jewish senior home which stood at the site and was subsequently misused as a deportation camp by the National Socialists. As a result of this project, the district parliament has passed a resolution requiring the site to be permanently recognized. Current phases of the project are shaping that future lasting installation.

Artistic direction: R Stein Wexler
Collaborators: Dr. Akim Jah, Anja Malcharowitz, Kathrin Gerlof, Claudia Nier, Stefan Baier, Harebell Suzuki, Lorand Balazs Imre, Anatole Powilleit, Hye Jin Lee, Andreas Tiedemann
Institutional support: Senatsverwaltung für Kultur und Gesellschaftlichen Zusammenhalt, Mitte Museum, Fachbereich Kunst, Kultur und Geschichte, Bezirksamt Mitte von Berlin, Bezirks Amt Mitte, Kultur Mitte, Haus der Statistik, Zusammenkunft Berlin eG, KMA Nachbarschafts Rat eV, Mollstraße Wohnungsgenossenschaft eG, Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung

We closed the street which now runs where the senior home stood and redrew the walls, erecting exhibit panels to display materials, and invited neighbors to activate the space through a community meal.

R Stein Wexler

Many neighborhood volunteers participated in recording sessions during which they read the names and demographic data of the home’s former residents. This audio collage plays on loop at the site now.

Rico Prauss

The community has twice closed the street for a day and re-erected the walls of the former Jewish senior home.

R Stein Wexler