Performative gathering and reopening after the restauration process with the artists Esther Shalev-Gerz, co-author of the Monument against Fascism, and Candice Breitz, Tàimakoo e.V., restorer Markus Lohmann, Anna Gröger from the Department of Visual Arts – Public Art, Ministry of Culture and Media Hamburg and the City Curator Joanna Warsza. The gathering will be followed by a walk to Eda Aslan’s exhibition Island to Another Island; Poem to Another Poem at the Kunstverein Harburger Bahnhof, accompanied by a reading performance titled Notes on Grey and blue.

Meeting point:
Monument against Fascism
Harburger Ring 31, 21073 Hamburg

In 1986, Esther Shalev-Gerz and Jochen Gerz installed a Monument against Fascism in Hamburg-Harburg. Over time, the 12-metre-tall obelisk was slowly lowered into the ground, eventually disappearing completely in 1993. Today, the monument’s deliberate absence from the site where it once stood, is a reminder that monuments cannot in fact protect us against fascism. It is only by remaining vigilant, forging durable solidarities and – above all – by standing our ground, that we can resist fascism’s resurgence.

This performative activation as well as the conversation Memorial against Fascism Yesterday and Today and the following concert A Song for Esther at Kampnagel mark the beginning of the series on Counter-Monuments, which asks how to critically, sensitively and timely engage with the public sphere, within postmigrant society.