Memorial painter Ulf Aminde: "The victims are denied the right to remember" | Culture | '
Deutsche Welle: 15 years after the nail bomb attack, their memorial is meant to remind the victims. How do you do that?
Ulf Aminde: At the moment I have the impression that those affected are denied the reminder of the attack and above all the right to be remembered. We are in negotiations with the city and with the investor who owns the site. And we have the impression that there is not a rush to implement the memorial and the associated right to remember.
Let's take a look at her design. By what means do you work, what is your idea?
The approach of this memorial and this memorial site is twofold. First of all, there is a 6 by 24 meter concrete floor slab that is exactly the same size as the foundation of the house, which was attacked by the nail bomb. This floor plate should be placed at the entrance of Keupstraße. Then there's an app that can be downloaded to your phone via Wi-Fi. With this app and with the help of augmented reality, virtual walls are suddenly created on the mobile phone along this floor slab, which grow into the sky and describe a virtual house.
Model of the planned memorial for the victims of the NSU
On these walls, movies can be activated and viewed on the phone. They show the perspective of migration and also the experience of racism. We shed light on the historical context in which the NSU was able to carry out its attacks and killings. We also shed light on the political climate and the history of racist violence into which the bombing falls.
Everyone is invited to participate and produce films that can be seen by everyone – affected neighborhood residents as well as students. That is a very important idea of this memorial. The result is a critical archive of the migrant resistance. On the one hand, the memorial deals with the concrete bomb attack on Keupstraße. At the same time the memorial is a reminder of the racist structures in our society.
The nail bomb attack in Cologne's Keupstraße (June 2004)
How worried are you about right-wing extremism in this society?
That's an extremely big problem. And now it comes to a head, the news is full of it. The biggest problem, however, is the structural racism that is part of German society. This has been shown in the way in which the victims were identified – against the victims of the NSU, against the families, the relatives. The racism was reflected in the way the police and authorities behaved and how the intelligence service was involved in many of the acts – and still refuses to disclose it.
Now is your memorial – at least in the draft. But the city of Cologne can not dispose of the property. Do you have the solution?
Instead of saying, "It is important to preserve the high good of private property," we should take the "heart at the right place perspective" and say: Of course, the only solution is that the memorial is placed at the entrance of the Keupstraße , I think it would be great if the city sat down to sit down with the investors and look: What can we do to keep the corner for the memorial? Would there be another area that we could offer in exchange? To be negotiated, that must be possible.
Cologne, 09.06.2019: Participants of a minute of silence remind with posters to the 15th anniversary of the attack
The interview was conducted by Stefan Dege.
From the 28th of June the Museum Ludwig in Cologne shows Ulf Aminde's memorial design. The exhibition will run until the 28th of July and presents the memorial on a scale of 1:10.
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