Hamburg is known as a place where monuments have become counter monumental, leading to the creation of counter-monuments. The title of the performative series and the art historical term “Counter-Monuments” actually originates from the Dammtor monument ensemble, where various histories and ideologies – relating to war, fascism and nazism – are both in dialogue and in a tension.

Meantime many stunning artworks of the city public collection seem forgotten or obliterated. What could they tell us now, what do they stand for? At the core of the invited projects lies the question of how to critically, sensitively and timely engage with the public sphere in which many different voices and experiences can be seen and heard in a multidirectional manner in a post-migrant society. A series of performative intervention are accompanied by the work of care and maintenance of the sites together with the Ministry of Culture and Media Hamburg. Many of Hamburg counter-monuments have also raised the questions of how to live an anti-fascist life, something we need to be asking again and again today. Since monuments themselves do not remember anything, it is for us, humans, to express, affirm, and problematise our values with and against them.