Infoguide for the loan of the exhibition Open Process
Curatorial concept: Ayşe Güleç and Fritz Laszlo Weber
Project management: Hannah Zimmermann
Exhibition production: Irène Mélix
www.offener-prozess.de | www.offener-prozess.net | www.asa-ff.de
CONTACTS
Project management:
Hannah Zimmermann, hannah.zimmermann@asa-ff.de
Project Staff
Zeran Osman zeran.osman@asa-ff.de – Exhibition organisation
Valentina Nicolae valentina.nicolae@asa-ff.de – Public relations
Arlo Jung arlo.jung@asa-ff.de – Educational work
Exhibition description
The exhibition Offener Prozess (Open Process) is dedicated to the topic of the effects of racist acts of violence using the example of the NSU complex, whose social reappraisal is far from complete.
It is not uncommon for the stories of the perpetrators of the NSU complex to be at the centre of the narratives. With this exhibition, the Offener Prozess project wants to break with this tradition and instead focus attention on migration stories and migrant struggles, continuities of right-wing and racist violence, as well as structural and institutional racism.
The exhibition takes East German realities, especially those in Saxony, as a starting point to portray the history of the NSU complex through individual stories and their resistant struggles against racism. With the approach of a “living memory”, marginalised perspectives are brought into focus. In addition, structural and institutional racism are the focus of the exhibition.
Artistic contributions by Harun Farocki, Hito Steyerl, belit sağ, Želimir Žilnik, Ulf Aminde and Forensic Architecture, among others, deal with the realities of life of so-called guest workers, migration stories, right-wing terrorist violence and everyday racism. Activist initiatives remember the victims. They are their loud voices, they fight back. According to the concept of the curators Ayşe Güleç and Fritz Laszlo Weber, we understand listening as a political practice and remembering as an ongoing process. The exhibition Open Process calls for action.
The aim of the exhibition is to make the complex events of the NSU trial accessible to a broad audience with the help of the exhibits, the methodology handbook, a multilingual mediation team and a discourse programme. The exhibition works are available in Turkish, Arabic, English and in simple language. In addition, the audiovisual works include an audio description for blind people.
Contents of the exhibits (incl. appendix)
Complete list of works:
• “Inventur – Metzstraße 11” – Želimir Žilnik
• “Inventur 2021” – Pınar Öğrenci
• “Sorge 87” – Nguyễn Thành Phong
• “Tiefenschärfe” – Alex Gerbaulet & Mareike Bernien
• “Babenhausen 1997” – Hito Steyerl
• “Songs of Gastarbeiter” – Imran Ayata & Bülent Kullukcu
• “Songs of Vertragsarbeit” – Vincent Bababoutilabo
• “Aufstellung” – Harun Farocki
• “Cut Out” – belit sağ
• “Trauerdemonstration Kein 10. Opfer” – Sefa Deterli and unknown authors
• “77sqm_9:26min” – Forensic Architecture
• “In Gedenkenen an Raúl Garcia Paret und Delfin Guerra” – Initiative 12. August
• “Der Fall Oury Jalloh! Werden die Täter von der Justiz gedeckt?” – socills
• “Was würden Nazis niemals tun?” – SPOTS
• “Bruchlinien” – Anne König & Nino Bulling
• “Platz für Alle” – Ulf Aminde and the Herkesin Meydanı Initiative
• “Wo geht es zur Halitstraße?” – SPOTS
• “Interaktive Karte” – Offener Prozess Project Team
• “şahîd – nhân chứng – witnesses” – Hannah Zimmermann (Offener Prozess)
• “Fritz Magazin” – Offener Prozess Project Team, Irène Mélix, Theo Threise, Students of TU Chemnitz
• “NSU Dokuzentrum” – Offener Prozess Project Team, Diana Felber, Andrea Fuchs, Theo Threise, Students of TU Dresden
• “TAKDIR. DIE ANERKENNUNG” – Ülkü Süngün
Technical requirements
• Recommended exhibition period: 8 weeks (min. 6 weeks)
• Exhibition area: approx. 250-400 sqm in total, accessible to persons with disabilities
• Weight: approx. 2,6 t
• Scope of packaging: 9 pallets (8 x Euro-Norm, 1 x 120cm x 88cm) + 1 transport box (240c m x 74 cm x 63 cm), maximum height of pallets 2.03 m, pallet weight: 100 kg to 325 kg
• Delivery by truck (7.5 t)
• Ideally, the exhibition space is barrier-free and accessible by fork-lift truck, otherwise the time and effort required for setting up is considerably higher
• Storage space for packaging materials during the exhibition period: min. 10 sqm
• Electricity requirements: at least 4 sockets/2 power circuits in the exhibition space, preferably more
• Space for a beamer projection (white wall, screen etc.)
• Lighting: adaptable lighting system would be an advantage
• A minimum duration of 8 weeks for the exhibition is desired
Transport & Set-up & Dismantling
General information
• Delivery from Chemnitz
• Upon request we can offer a concept for either transport only or transport including set-up and dismantling
• Delivery with a truck (7,5t) including tail lift
Time and manpower required for set-up and dismantling
• Set-up: approx. 70 to 100 working hours (depending on local conditions, possibility of transport from truck to room with pallet lifter, e.g. 3 persons for 3 days)
• Dismantling: approx. 40 to 50 working hours
Costs
The total cost list will be provided later.
Facilitation
The Facilitation Workshop
Once a year, a training workshop is held with Juliane Phieler, Ayşe Güleç and Sandra Plessing. In an eight-hour workshop, they familiarise the facilitation team with the exhibition, the exhibits and topics. The aim is to enable local agents to offer tours of the exhibition for different target groups. The training workshop is free of charge. In advance, we ask all participants to familiarise themselves with the materials provided by us so that we can work together on the content during the workshop.
Topics
What is racism?
Everyday racism terminology (BIPoC, whites, migrants), the history of guest workers/contract workers in Germany (see also Methodology textbook).
Facilitation teams
The Open Process project has already trained facilitation teams who can offer exhibition tours in English, French, Arabic, German sign language, Spanish and German. The facilitators are already trained in the methodology and have experience in providing facilitation. It is possible to book educators from Offener Prozess. Two people are employed per session, which lasts about two hours. Costs and fees have to be covered for the booking of the facilitators, travel and accommodation.
Requests can be sent to: vermittlung@asa-ff.de
Contact person: Hannah Zimmermann
Facilitation – ideas and approaches
• A short introduction to the NSU (what is the NSU – what did they do?). Use public law reports or Federal Agency for Civic Education materials, as well as the methodology textbook).
• The works should speak for themselves with the aim of hearing the perspectives of those affected.
• Focus on the works in discussions and engage in dialogue to find possible answers in the works.
• Encourage active listening, according to the concept of the exhibition “listening as political practice”.
• Link questions or tasks to the works: How does this affect you? Who is speaking, who is listening? What forms of narration and representation do the works choose? What are the issues they address?
• Find a red thread and think about how the works connect with each other.
• Focus on witnessing => witnesses speak through the works and we become witnesses to their knowledge and experiences.
• No need for expert knowledge on the NSU complex, refer to the chatbot as a research archive.
• Important: look at the work of Harun Farocki: are clichés being portrayed, and if so, which ones? How does the work with the collage draw attention to racism in the media? => Starting point for dealing with racism in media coverage of the NSU complex.
Accessibility
General information
As a matter of fact, accessibility for blind people is only ensured in German. For deaf people, there is currently no consistent accessibility via subtitles. However, German sign language interpreters are available. German and English are the main languages.
Language
The exhibition uses the main languages German, Turkish, Arabic in different places. The aim in the near future is for all content to be available in English. Upon request, the chatbot could be translated into other languages. This would incur additional costs for the technical implementation. When translating, the title Offener Prozess (Ongoing Process) in particular must be translated mindfully in order to retain its ambiguity.
SIMPLE LANGUAGE: the chatbot is available in German in simple language.
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: almost all films (except Inventur 2021 and witnesses) have a German audio description.
ONLINE EXHIBITION: the online exhibition is accessible in all the languages mentioned, it uses different contrasts and is readable with a screen reader. The texts are also available in German.
CATALOGUE: It is in German and English.
METHODOLOGY TEXTBOOK: this is only available in German.
An information flyer at the entrance providing the relevant information on accessibility is preferable.
Public relations
General information
• Flyers, posters, social media templates => methodology textbook/user’s guide for project staff with public documents in German/English are available -> please contact us in advance for approval prior to publication.
• If possible, communicate and promote in several languages (English, Arabic, Turkish, etc.)
• Actively address communities
• Name and display logo of Offener Prozess & ASA-FF
• Make logos of cooperation partners & sponsors visible
• Please observe gendering norms
• Please post as barrier-free as possible
Corporate design
You will receive from us:
• Blank templates for social media and press
• Colour codes & fonts
• Gender-sensitive language
Press
• We provide press images & captioning → please check copyright of photos with us in advance.
• Please check in with us before sending out press releases.
• Please provide us with press reviews and photos of the exhibition for internal and external use.
Social media
For social media, we need photos, videos and other material from the exhibition and related events, so we can also post them on our channels. Please link Offener Prozess on Instagram, Facebook & co:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/offenerprozess/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/offener_prozess
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/offener_prozess/
Chatbot
The chatbot digitally accompanies the visitors of the exhibition and offers further information on the artists and all works in the exhibition. Short message commands are sent to the chatbot in the form of hashtags, e.g. #HYO or #MKU, to obtain information about Halit Yozgat or Mehmet Kubaşik. The chatbot is available in German, English, Turkish, Arabic and in simple language. It can be used via the web browser, Telegram and WhatsApp.
In the exhibition, hashtags refer to specific sections, various topics and information. With this concept, visitors can take the exhibition guide home and continue to explore the exhibition content there. The system combines the functions of an audio guide, a reference work and a social platform. https://www.offener-prozess.net/chatbot
Concept: Fritz Lazlo Weber
Methodology Textbook
Citation: Zimmermann, Hannah/ Klaus, Martina (2021): Vom Lernen und Verlernen. Methodenhandbuch zur rassismuskritischen Aufarbeitung des NSU-Komplex (1st ed.).
Chemnitz: ASA-FF e.V.
ISBN: 978-3-00-069135-5
Donation account: ASA-FF e.V. | DE09430609671160785203 |GLS Bank
The methodology textbook, which we developed in a cooperation with numerous authors and the Couragewerkstatt für demokratische Bildungsarbeit e.V. (Courage Workshop for Democratic Education), provides free didactic material that ties in with the artistic works in the exhibition “Offener Prozess”. The exhibition was curated by Ayşe Güleç and Fritz Laszlo Weber.
It contains texts and practices that focus on (post-)migrant, activist and academic perspectives on the NSU complex. Ten years after the NSU denounced itself, the methodology textbook points out gaps in the process of coming to terms with the NSU, as well as possibilities for dealing with the topic inside and outside of school. In 22 articles, 9 teaching methods, numerous worksheets and a glossary, the publication provides teaching material on the NSU complex for schools (recommended for 9th grade and beyond) and extracurricular educational contexts. Following Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak’s concept of “unlearning”, the approaches open ways for educational processes in which the confrontation with racism and right-wing terror is linked to a questioning of privileges, social positions and power relations. The methodology textbook was developed within the framework of the project “Offener Prozess” under the auspices of ASA-FF e.V. in cooperation with Couragewerkstatt für demokratische Bildungsarbeit e.V. (NDC Saxony).
Further information at www.offener-prozess.de/methodenhandbuch
Contact person: Hannah Zimmermann, hannah.zimmermann@asa-ff.de
Exhibition catalogue
The exhibition catalogue is in English and German. It picks up on the approach of listening as a political practice, working primarily with direct quotations out of the artistic works. The catalogue gives a political and artistic context to the individual exhibits and explains how the works are connected. It also introduces the exhibition’s basic conceptual ideas of witnessing, un-learning and social reappraising. The exhibition catalogue is available for 15 €. Of this, 11 € will go to the “Offener Prozess” project and 4 € to the point of sale.
Concept: Irène Mélix
Design: Thanh Nguyễn Phương
Digital exhibition
It is also possible to visit the exhibition in a digital classroom. The online exhibition brings together many of the exhibition’s elements and provides accessibility for German blind and visually impaired people via audio description. In addition, the content is accessible in Arabic, Turkish, English and simple language (only the information, not all the films. For more on this, see the chapter on “Accessibility”).
Find the digital exhinition at: www.offener-prozess.net
A few works are password protected.
Password Witnesses: vimeop2021
Password Film 3 Witnesses: $CaYRx76a
Exhibition programme
The exhibition is accompanied by an educational and artistic programme, which must be organised in advance. It is recommended that the exhibition be accompanied by, for example, debates, panel discussions and live artistic performances.
If necessary, we would be happy to support you with the organisation and implementation of an exhibition programme on the topics of the NSU and racism.
Examples of events that can be organised are:
• Panel discussions (on the topic of places of remembrance, activist engagement, etc.)
• Artist Talks on issues such as culture of remembrance, racism, the 1989 evolution from a migrant perspective
• Film screenings with films from the exhibition and subsequent panel discussion
Contact person: Zeran Osman, zeran.osman@asa-ff.de
Bookings for special project days, workshops and lectures for school and extracurricular groups are also possible.
The exhibition as an Ongoing Process – participation possibilities of the exhibition venues
The exhibition can and should be linked to local histories, the reappraisal of racism and right-wing terror as well as resistance practices. The following different modules of the exhibition offer participation possibilities:
a) Assembly
The Assembly table is the place for joint viewing, discussion and debate of films, images and texts. This table forms the centre of the exhibition, it summarises it, and acts as an archive and a place for dialogue. Here the visitors become active, they gather, take in what they have seen and heard, they deal with questions and contexts together, in order to learn, understand and unlearn old assumptions. Here it is possible to draw on local events. Pictures, newspaper reports, poems, quotes or archive materials can be displayed here.
b) Interactive map
The NSU lived undetected in Chemnitz and Zwickau for more than ten years, from 1998 to 2011. From their base here, the neo-Nazi network killed ten people and injured and traumatised dozens more through bomb attacks and robberies. According to the state of the investigation so far, the NSU committed the murders mainly in the old federal states (except for Rostock), and the robberies in the new federal states, mainly in south-west Saxony. In Zwickau and Chemnitz alone, the NSU looted more than 260,000 euros to finance its crimes. The Critical Map (created in student research projects in Chemnitz) provides a visualisation tool of the logistics and activities of the NSU in its safe haven: flats, youth clubs, rented cars, helpers, scene magazines, robberies and weapons deliveries.
At other exhibition venues, the map can be expanded. In the crime scene cities, other categories can also play a role. The borrowing centres can cooperate with local memorial initiatives, civil society associations, etc. and commission local research. The researched information will be handed over to the “Offener Prozess” team at least three weeks before the start of the exhibition and entered into the interactive map.
c) Library
The Library is a meeting and research place in the exhibition space. At the same time, in the context of the NSU complex, it also becomes a democratic counter-design to the shredding of files. It opposes the 120-year embargo, against the ensemble of undemocratic secret services and authorities, in which the public is not seen as a client, but as a problem case.
The library can be supplemented with further multilingual literature at international locations. Literature with local connections can also be added at locations within Germany.
Contact person: Fritz Laszlo Weber, fritz.weber@asa-ff.de