Exhibition Offener Prozess
“Victims and survivors are the main witnesses of what happened, we are not extras.“
(İbrahim Arslan, survivor of the Mölln arson attack in 1992).
The exhibition Offener Prozess is dedicated to the NSU complex. In doing so, it takes the East German reality, especially in Saxony, as a starting point to tell a story of the NSU complex that starts from the migration stories and the continuities of right-wing and racist violence and resistance against it. With the approach of a “living memory,” she brings marginalized perspectives into focus. In addition, she takes aim at structural and institutional racism. Artistic contributions by Harun Farocki, Hito Steyerl, belit sağ, Želimir Žilnik, Ulf Aminde, Forensic Architecture and many more are dedicated to the realities of life of guest workers, migration stories, everyday life in Germany and right-wing terrorist violence as well as everyday racism. Activist initiatives remember those who have become victims of this violence and are the loud voices of those who defend themselves against it. Listening is understood here as a political practice, remembering as a process. This exhibition calls for action.
The exhibition will travel to various cities throughout Germany and Europe and will be framed by an educational and accompanying program. Contemporary witnesses will speak, perspectives will be exchanged in discussion formats, impulses will be given through film screenings, people will be brought into conversation with each other in discussion rounds, music by former contract workers will be heard, and the exhibition will be a place of encounter and research. In 2021, the exhibition will be shown in Jena and Chemnitz as well as in Brussels and – in partial excerpts – at thirteen theater locations. In the following years, further stops in cities are planned. From 2025, it will be on view as a permanent exhibition in Chemnitz as part of the Capital of
Curatorial Team
Ayşe Güleç worked for the Department of the Artistic Director of documenta 14 from 2016 to 2017, from 2018 to 2019 she headed the art education department at the Museum für Moderne Kunst in Frankfurt a.M., and she is currently working again for documenta 15.
Fritz Laszlo Weber is a freelance artist, he studied at the Kunsthochschule Kassel and in 2018 completed his master’s degree at the Hochschule für Künste Bremen. Website: http://fritz-weber.de/
Exhibition Production
Irène Mélix is an artist and cultural scientist. She studied in Dresden/Kraków and Hildesheim/Paris and works in intersections of political and aesthetic issues. Contact: irene.melix@asa-ff.de
Program
Critical Walk: Searching for traces – The former Fritz Heckert area and the NSU complex.
The approx. 90-minute district walk is devoted to the architectural, social and political history of the Fritz Heckert area. The Critical Walk is the result of a research process at TU Chemnitz University of Technology with the aim of creating urban, remembrance-cultural interventions and making a contribution to coming to terms with the NSU complex and to the active remembrance of the victims. Students conducted social space explorations, interviews and archive research under the direction of Hannah Zimmermann, Irène Mélix and Theo Treihse.
Saturday, 18.9.2021 & Sunday, 19.9.2021, 11 a.m., free entrance
Meeting point: tram – final stop Hutholz
Registration via: Course programme of the VHS Chemnitz
A cooperation of the ASA-FF e.V. with the VHS Chemnitz
Critical Walk: Searching for traces – The former Fritz Heckert area and the NSU complex.
The approx. 90-minute district walk is devoted to the architectural, social and political history of the Fritz Heckert area. The Critical Walk is the result of a research process at TU Chemnitz University of Technology with the aim of creating urban, remembrance-cultural interventions and making a contribution to coming to terms with the NSU complex and to the active remembrance of the victims. Students conducted social space explorations, interviews and archive research under the direction of Hannah Zimmermann, Irène Mélix and Theo Treihse.
Saturday, 18.9.2021 & Sunday, 19.9.2021, 11 a.m., free entrance
Meeting point: tram – final stop Hutholz
Registration via: Course programme of the VHS Chemnitz
A cooperation of the ASA-FF e.V. with the VHS Chemnitz
Opening of the exhibition
Celebratory opening of the exhibition with speeches and music.
The exhibition Offener Prozess will be opened in the rooms of the Neue Sächsische Galerie in a festive setting.
Tuesday, 28.09.2021, 19:30,
Neue Sächsische Galerie, Moritzstraße 20, 09111 Chemnitz
Registration via e-mail at: offener-prozess@asa-ff.de
Living Library
Six people with migration biographies talk in small discussion groups about their personal experiences of arriving and participating in society in Chemnitz. The Living Library is a conversation format that brings books to life. People can be borrowed and ‘read’ in the form of Living Books. These Living Books enable personal conversations in which readers can ask them questions that interest them. The Living Books can also ask their readers questions.
An offer for school classes. Free entry.
Wednesday, 13.10.2021, in the morning, in consultation with the school
TIETZ, Moritzstraße 20, 09111 Chemnitz
Booking and information via: frauke.wetzel@asa.ff.de
A cooperation between ASA-FF e.V. and Chemnitz City Library.
Exhibition tour Offener Prozess in sign language
In cooperation with the Association for Deaf People we offer the transmission of the exhibition in sign language.
Wednesday, 14.10.2021, 2 p.m. & Saturday, 06.11.2021, 11 a.m.
Neue Sächsische Galerie, Moritzstraße 20, 09111 Chemnitz, Germany
Registration via: frauke.wetzel@asa.ff.de
A cooperation of the ASA-FF e.V. with the Stadtverband der Gehörlosen Chemnitz e.V..
Remembrance culture and the role of art – Artist Talk with Hito Steyerl & Ayşe Güleç
Hito Steyerl is a professor of experimental film and video. In her artistic works she deals with postcolonial critique and feminist logic of representation. Ayşe Güleç, curator of the exhibition Offener Prozess, researching activist at the intersections of art, anti-racism and migration, is one of the key figures of the documenta.
In the exhibition, Güleç and Steyerl present the experiences of those affected by right-wing violence. In the Artist Talk, they discuss the necessities and difficulties of political and activist interventions in the remembrance cultures and in artistic spaces. The role of art in remembering antisemitic progroms and acts will be discussed in concrete terms.
Friday, 22.10.2021, 7 p.m., free of charge.
The event will take place online.
The access details will be published on https://offener-prozess.de/blog/.
Online Artist-Talk with Želimir Žilnik & Pınar Öğrenci
Gastarbeit (lit. Guest Work)/ Vertragsarbeit (lit. Contract Work) Guest Work/Contract Work & Inventory/ Inventory 2021 – What has changed? –
Moderation: N. Buket Cengiz
Friday, 29.10.2021, 7 p.m., online event. Facebook Live Video: https://www.facebook.com/events/299281175095172/
Zustand und Gelände – A film screening with commentary and discussion
13 events at twelve locations: Together with our cooperation partners, we invite the public to a screening of the award-winning documentary film Zustand und Gelände and to a discussion of the history of National Socialism and difficult remembrance, especially the history of the early concentration camps in Saxony and the culture of remembrance after 1945. Institutional and individual research activities, especially those of civil society actors, are presented and the public is invited to participate in a discussion.
The discussion will also focus on commemorating the crimes of the NSU.
After the film, local memory actors from the Geschichtswerkstatt Sachsenburg, Hannah Zimmermann from the project Offener Prozess and the director Ute Adamczewski will discuss.
Friday, 05.11.2021, 5 p.m., free entry
TIETZ, Moritzstraße 20, 09111 Chemnitz; 3rd floor
Registration via: Course programme of the VHS Chemnitz
A cooperation of the ASA-FF e.V. with Geschichtswerkstatt Sachsenburg, VHS Chemnitz and Sächsischen Landesarbeitsgemeinschaft Auseinandersetzung mit dem Nationalsozialismus (SLAg). Further information on the entire film tour in Saxony (July-November 2021) at www.slag-aus-ns.de.
Remembering means Transforming. Panel discussion on the development of a memorial to the victims of the NSU in Chemnitz
Ulf Aminde, Serpil Temiz Unvar, Vertreter der Stadt Chemnitz (angefragt), Hannah Zimmermann. Moderation: N.N.
In all cities related to the NSU complex, there are already memorials and monuments to the victims of the NSU. However, the creation of places of remembrance was often linked to the fact that the interests of the relatives were not heard, or less innovative formats such as memorial stones were created. The panel discussion is a kickoff for the question: What can the process for a place of remembrance for the NSU victims in Chemnitz look like? Discussing: Elif Kubaşık, who as the wife of NSU murder victim Mehmet Kubaşık has often criticised the memorials that have been created. Ulf Aminde, who as an artist created the design for the Keupstraße memorial “Herkesin Meydanı – Platz für Alle”. Serpill Temiz Unvar, who as the mother of the murdered Ferhat Unvar maintains the memory with the educational initiative “Ferhat Unvar”. Sven Schulze, who as Lord Mayor of the city of Chemnitz will speak on the question of the realisation of the memorial.
Sunday, 07.11.2021, 16:30, free admission
Neue Sächsische Galerie, Moritzstraße 20, 09111 Chemnitz
Registration via: offener-prozess@asa-ff.de
Depending on the current corona situation, the panel discussion will take place online. Find out more at: https://offener-prozess.de/blog/
Sonic Segregations – Microphoning in the NSU Complex
Lecture by Professor Johannes Saleim Ismaiel-Wendt
In his paper, Professor Johannes Salim Ismaiel-Wendt negotiates issues of sonic segregation in the NSU trial by examining the auditory dispositif in the frame and in particular the interaction through the microphone system in the trial room.
Having a voice, being able to speak for oneself, being heard are always dependent on social positions of power. The thematic and artistic focus of his work is on the ambivalences of the audible, as well as the postcolonial dimensions of acoustics, voices and sounds.
Sunday, 07.11.2021, 7 p.m.
The event will take place online and will be broadcast live at the NSG. Access details will be posted on https://offener-prozess.de/blog/.