Memorial to the persecution of homeless people under the Nazi dictatorship - Mainz - Germany
- short listed in international public art competition-
The memorial artwork “SCHWARZER WINKEL” (BLACK TRIANGLE) on Petersplatz in Mainz commemorates the persecution of a group of victims that has hardly been recognized nationwide: the homeless people who were persecuted, interned and murdered by the Nazi dictatorship as so-called “asocials”.
The memorial site is conceived as a contemporary artistic intervention in public space because, in addition to the historical commemoration work, a clear reference to the present is also necessary. Even today, homeless people are often stigmatized. They are marginalized on a daily basis, physically attacked and driven from their sleeping places. In many respects, they are threatened in life and limb. Here, the artwork focuses on empathizing with the situation of homelessness as an important prerequisite for commemoration.
The “SCHWARZER WINKEL” (BLACK TRIANGLE), which so-called “asocials” had to wear in the concentration camps, is taken up symbolically: The black triangle is turned upside down, as it were, and extruded into the depths.
This creates the shape of an emergency shelter, as we know it from survival kits. The same form of rudimentary tent is often seen in improvised overnight stays in public spaces.
A figurative representation is deliberately avoided in favor of a real situation in public space. The aim is to create a place where you don't just walk past, but where - if you allow yourself to - you can actively experience it.
Everyone can lie down in the tent and perhaps experience for themselves the feeling of defencelessness on the floor of a public space. Some people will have a queasy feeling of vulnerability. This can help to develop empathy. For homeless people today as well as 90 years ago.
It is also to be expected that the site will be used temporarily by homeless people. A public that wants to design a memorial site on this topic and fill it with life and sympathy will also want to accept its real use by those actually affected. The possibility of sporadic use is conceptually intended. The memorial site thus makes the precarious situation of the homeless all the more visible.
Reservations and blind spots in perception as well as one's own ability to sympathize can be perceived more consciously in this way than would be possible with a purely symbolic representation. Permanent appropriation is less likely, however, because the site then appears too exposed and public.
The “SCHWARZER WINKEL” (BLACK TRIANGLE) memorial and experience site draws attention to the group of homeless victims in a contemporary form and at the same time gives those commemorating the opportunity to identify emotionally with the people who are to be remembered.
Implementation and Place Making
The tent form is to be realized in architectural bronze - a material traditionally reserved for monuments. This high-quality choice of material makes the intervention legible as a permanent place of remembrance.
Architectural bronze, 2-3 mm sheet metal, welded, dark burnished. Stiffeners and upstands in the architectural bronze ensure durability and stability.
The dark burnished finish will continue to develop a patina over the years and darken to almost black. In areas frequently touched by visitors and users of the memorial site, a noble golden sheen will develop.
The object will be fixed to the ground with dowels or screw piles.
The artwork “SCHWARZER WINKEL” (BLACK TRIANGLE) was developed in line with the budget. A bench is also to be provided. If feasible from a horticultural point of view, this could be realized in a circle around the neighbouring tree. An information stele, still to be designed, will complete the memorial site.