ZEROREZERO

2003 | Performance & Exhibition

ZEROREZERO

PROGRAM:

Conrad Schnitzler’s „Cassette Concerts” presented by Wolfgang Seidel
In the 70s Conrad Schnitzler built the „Cassette Organ” two cases with a total of 12 cassette recorders to present his sound collection and his compositions as a live collage. The performance concept is now presented with CD players instead of the cassette recorders by Wolfgang Seidel.

Happening of Sinus_3 (Poznań/ Poland)
The work of the group is presented in an exhibition. The happening „zerorezero” is conceived as a reflection of the place.

Happening of Centrala Rybna (Poznań/Poland)

Missing Part of History

2022 | HERstory Project

Missing part of history. Irena Bobowska, the forgotten heroine.

The “Missing Part of History” project is an attempt to supplement Polish-German history by reminding Polish women who fought for freedom during World War II. The project is another contribution to the debate about history in relation to the present, especially in the face of another war in Europe.
Who were these women, Polish women who fought for freedom? How much can we learn from history and how can we talk about it? How can we preserve the memory of forgotten heroines?

In recent years, there has been a discussion in Berlin about memorial sites and the possible location of the monument to the Polish victims of National Socialism. The debate was long, it took place among people at various high levels and scientific positions, among politicians, in the Bundestag. Women, especially young women, representatives of civil society, or those not belonging to closed scientific circles and interested persons, did not participate.

The protagonist of the project is Irena Bobowska, a poet from Poznań, who was murdered by the Nazis in Berlin at the age of 22. For us, she is a symbol of all those young, talented women who were murdered, destroyed, tortured during the war, and then banished into oblivion by posterity.

The project consisted of four events with performative readings of Bobowska’s poems, discussions with invited experts, concerts and an exhibition about the life of Irena Bobowska. In the accompanying commemorative newspaper Pobudka, Bobowska’s poems in Polish and German were presented – each poem translated by a different woman.

The events took place in four different locations and were accompanied by the Embassy of Polish Women, an art project by Anna Krenz. The Embassy of Polish Women is a temporary mobile spatial installation with lacy walls; it hosts meetings, exhibitions and discussions on politics, the environment and engaged art. The opening and inauguration of the Embassy took place in June 2020 at the Haus der Statistik in Berlin.

How can common historical debates and art contribute to a deeper understanding and avoid repeating history?

Project by Dziewuchy Berlin, Cooperation: Sinus 3, Botschaft der Polinnen, Ambasada Polek e.V., International Council of Polish Women+
Project supported by the Berliner Senatsverwaltung für Kultur und Europa;
Event in Volkspark Friedrichshain supported by the Bundesministerium für Familie, Senioren, Frauen und Jugend im Rahmen des Bundesprograms Demokratie Leben!
Research supported by: The Foundation for Arts Initiatives https://ffaiarts.net

Photos: Ela Kargol, Maciej Soja / Soja Photography