Ulf Aminde is an artist, performer, filmmaker and activist based in Berlin, Germany. His projects bring together people with completely different social backgrounds, in which social divisions and hierarchies are not only revealed but also prove to be unstable. The transformation of repressed behavior and the call for social change are therefore at the center of his work.
His project, Antiracist Memorial, Keupstrasse, Herkesin Meydanı - Place for Everyone, supports the construction of a memorial commemorating the racist bomb attacks in Cologne in 2001 and 2004. As a counterposition to the racist suspicions against migrants, the memorial is based on many conversations with residents and initiatives from the neighborhood and combines the concept of memory with a future that needs to be constantly (visually) renewed by a “Society of the Many.”
Featured Works
The Antiracist Memorial, Keupstrasse, Herkesin Meydanı - Place for Everyone was developed in memory of the racially motivated bombings by the terrorist NSU Network in 2001 and 2004 in Cologne. The foundation of the memorial starts from the concrete floor slab parallel to the house where the bomb exploded in Keupstrasse. Rising from this concrete slab with the help of smartphones or tablets, virtual walls can be activated and viewed by the visitors. The multitude of films create a virtual house that can be entered by everyone. Likewise, everyone is invited to participate in the construction of the house by producing and uploading films themselves. The memorial thus becomes a cinematic stage and a curated critical archive for all forms of resistance against racism.
Photo: Dörthe Boxberg
Herkesin Meydanı – Platz für Alle (Room for Everyone), Keupstraße
Photo: Rheinisches Bildarchiv Köln / Jonas Klein
Installation view Ulf Aminde. Das Mahnmal an der Keupstraße (The Memorial on Keupstraße), Museum Ludwig, Cologne
Photo: Rheinisches Bildarchiv Köln / Jonas Klein
Installation view Ulf Aminde. Das Mahnmal an der Keupstraße (The Memorial on Keupstraße), Museum Ludwig, Cologne