The site-specific project (NOT A) COMMON GROUND deals with Hamburg's Baakenhafen as an important post-colonial memorial site where economic, infrastructural, historical, cultural and political layers intersect. Public spaces can be read as living archives that reveal the city's multi-layered history. (NOT A) COMMON GROUND is a performative monument that makes colonial history visible and contributes to discussions about memory culture in Hamburg. A particular focus is placed on the political staging that accompanied the dispatch of the so-called “Schutztruppen” ("protection troops") from Baakenhafen. Shortly thereafter, under the command of Lothar von Trotha, these troops committed genocide against the Herero and Nama peoples in present-day Namibia, which was then known as "German South West Africa."

As part of a joint transnational artistic research (NOT A) COMMON GROUND collaborates with the multidisciplinary performance project IF THE BONES COULD SPEAK, a South African-Namibian co-production by Camissa Create. IF THE BONES COULD SPEAK traces the journey of the human remains of ancestors who were deported from southern Africa during the German colonial period and the subsequent apartheid era, many of whom are still kept in European and South African institutions. Through performance, movement, music, and sound installation, the project questions what repatriation means when issues of memory, justice, and restitution remain unresolved. By combining historical research, oral history, and community engagement, it challenges hegemonic narratives around restitution and centers the perspectives of the communities directly affected.

The audience moves through various sites around Baakenhafen during the walking performance of (NOT A) COMMON GROUND / IF THE BONES COULD SPEAK, invited to engage with colonial legacy and imagine new forms of transnational remembrance and reconciliation. The project integrates unsettling legacies and intimate histories into the public memory of the city, creating a space of uneasy togetherness.

(NOT A) COMMON GROUND / IF THE BONES COULD SPEAK is part of the City Curator Hamburg Counter-Monuments series in cooperation with International Summer Festival Kampnagel, Baakenhafen-AG, MARKK Museum am Rothenbaum Kulturen und Künste der Welt and the the Hamburg Architecture Summer.

With the kind support of the rehearsal stage in the Gängeviertel, the Quarterpipe, and the betahaus-HafenCity.

The project is founded by the Hamburger Elbkulturfonds and the Fonds Darstellende Künste.


Artistic Concept: Liz Rech / Camissa Create

Participating Artists: Glen Arendse, Memory Biwa, Lucy Campbell, Luke De Kock, Daniel Dominguez Teruel, Immaculata Hiền Thơ Nguyễn, Heinrich Horwitz, Janis Jirotka, David Odiase, Haymich Olivier, Zwoisy Mears-Clarke, Trixie Munyama, ein Pferd, Liz Rech, die Flaggenschwinger, Ted Gaier, Nikola Duric, Till Wolfer, u.a.

Head of Production: Anne Mager / Rae’ Classen

Production assistant: Rbqa Renz

Technical management: Felix Jung

Duration Walking Performance: 1 ½ – 2 hours

Trigger Warning: The project deals with racist and genocidal violence.

Accessibility information: The project is partially accessible, as the audience will be walking. There will be opportunities to sit down at certain stations throughout the performance. Please contact us if you need assistance, and we will try to find an appropriate solution.

Childcare: A free nature experience program for children and young adults will take place during the performance in the immediate vicinity to enable people with care responsibilities to attend without complications. The program is being developed in cooperation with the Loki Schmidt Foundation.

• Site-specificity
• Counterhegemony
• Forensic Acoustics
• Performativity
• Spectacle
• Structures of Trust
• Counterpublics
• Attention Economics