SCHEUnENviertel Monument _

Interactive Sculpture / Video Installation concealed under a pile of wood chips.

A temporary video sculpture that documented the history, demolition, and shredding of a historic army base close to Weimar Germany.  This video installation was hidden under a pile of shredded building refuse taken from a pre-World-War II army base in Nohra, which is now being demolished with funding from the European Union. Only the soft sound and masked glow of televisions hinted at what was inside. Newspaper ads, and a plaque, invited viewers to brush aside, dig-in, and take home the free wood chips. Sifting through these pieces of history exposed a video documentation of the site, and created a place for a conversation about this mysterious and controversial piece of Weimar history.

This sculpture on the Goetheplatz was designed to connect this mysterious and soon-to-be demolished space with the people of Weimar. High in pedestrian traffic, the Goetheplatz has a strong connection to the often favored history of Weimar Classicism. This sculpture, a huge pile of historic building refuse, stained the Goetheplatz and sat in dialog with the empty plinth of Duke Carl Alexander. A reminder of how histories are erased, but not always forgotten. This project aims to provoke a conversation regarding Weimar’s modern-history, while at the same time re-visiting a collective history that links the 20th century with the time of Goethe and Schiller.

Photos: Sven B Mueller