2146 Stones – Monument against Racism / The Invisible Monument

2146 Steine – Mahnmal gegen Rassismus / Das unsichtbare Mahnmal

2146 Pierres – Monument contre le Racisme / Le Monument Invisible

CR 105. Year 1993

Wv 105 Monument Against Racism 024
Wv 105 1146 Stones Monument Against Racism 1
Wv 105 1146 Stones Monument Against Racism 2
Wv 105 1146 Stones Monument Against Racism 3

    He chose cemeteries rather than synagogues for his project because in the Jewish religion they are something indisoluble and indestructible - the continuity of life itself. Their gravestones are sacrosanct, or at least should be.

    Barbara von Jhering 1992

    It is the discourses of such notions of responsibility, of whose convenience they serve and of what it is that they ultimately mask and contain, which are our dilemma and it is their problematising as it expands out of the work of Jochen Gerz and his collaborators which I would like to engage with. These discourses entail questions regarding historical practice, responsibility, memory, testimony and commemoration which are linked to certain moralizing positions all of which claim that to produce some concrete manifestation that marks loss, even in a negative form, is the appropriate response.

    Irit Rogoff 1993

    This ... project – which escapes from sense perception and can only be discovered through the ‘magical’ relationship between of the site to all the former sites of Jewish life before 1933 – necessarily came up against criticism in the beginning when it was brought to public attention in Saarbrücken. Not that there was fundamental rejection of such a memorial, but the ‘non-visibility’ and the illegal way in which the artist has worked were heartily critized in public opinion and in the city council parliament. It was only after a highly emotional debate that it was finally decided to support the project financially.

    Lieselotte Kugler 1993. Translated by e_CR editors

    I stand by this monument, at this place close to the border. We are not free to choose our own history. If we do not adopt it critically ourselves, others will critically remind us of it.

    Oskar Lafontaine 1993. Translated by e_CR editors

    Der Schloßplatz dient dem Markt genauso wie dem Fest, dem Feilschen wie dem Tanzen, dem Feiertag wie dem Alltag. So wird dieses Mahnmal unerträglich, weil seine Bestandteile nicht identifizierbar sind - welche Steine sollte die beflissene Pietät des Fußgängers meiden? Durch seine Diskretion stellt dieses unsichtbare Mahnmal eine skandalöse Verbindung von Alltag und Gedenken her, die alle anderen Mahnmale kappen. Es ist eigentlich nur ein vandalensicheres Gerücht, aber dem Passanten kann es unter den Sohlen brennen.

    Walter Grasskamp 1994

    As visitors flocked to the square…, they too began to wonder "where they stood" vis-a-vis the memorial stones: Were they standing on it? In it? Was it really there at all? On searching for memory, Gerz hoped, they would realise that such memory was already in them.

    James E. Young 1994

    Le monument de Sarrebruck, ce n'est pas un mémorial du souvenir mais un mémorial aux trous de mémoire, un mémorial de l'oubli, de la perte, de l'absence, autant de fait actuels - comme le souvenir, l'oubli est un acte contemporain. Ce n'est pas un fait du passé que rappelle le Monument invisible : c'est l'effacement, toujours au présent, ce fait qu'il ne reste aujourd'hui ni trace matérielle, nulle part, ni aucune mémoire de cette vie juive qui existait dans l'Allemagne d'avant 33 dans, au moins, 2146 communautés (…).

    Gérard Wajcman 1998

    Gerz has described invisiblility as both intellectual challenge and as a protective measure; what is unseen cannot be defaced.

    Ed. Invisible: Art about the Unseen 1957-2012. 2012

    Categories

    Work in public space

    (with students from the Hochschule der Künste Saar, Saarbrücken: Martin Blanke, Christian H. Cordes, Yvonne de Grazia, Jens Freitag, Daniel Funke, Beate Miller, Gabi Raddau, Isabel Reichert)

    2146 engraved paving stones
    Location: Platz des unsichtbaren Mahnmals, Saarbrücken

    With the help of the 61 Jewish communities in Germany, a list of all 2146 Jewish cemeteries in existence before the outbreak of World War II is compiled. The names of the cemeteries are engraved on the undersides of an equal number of paving stones (of a total of 8000 stones) on the avenue in front of the Schloß in Saarbrücken, the seat of the municipal parliament and the Gauleitung [regional government administration under the National Socialist regime]. The project is illegal. It is uncommissioned and is not approved by parliamentary vote until after work has commenced. The Schloßplatz in Saarbrücken is renamed Platz des unsichtbaren Mahnmals (Square of The Invisible Monument).

    Landeshauptstadt Saarbrücken.

    Realisation

    Platz des unsichtbaren Mahnmals, Saarbrücken 1990 - 1993

    Documentation

    Photographs, wall graphics of the Jewish cemetaries in Germany, list of the cemetary names scrolled on a computer screen. Historisches Museum Saar 2023: 30 Jahre Platz des Unsichtbaren Mahnmals

    Exhibitions of the documentation

    New York 1993 (Berlin 1994. München 1994 u.a.O./a.o.p. 1995). Vancouver 1994 (Newport Beach 1995. Purchase 1996. Winnipeg 1996/97). Tel Aviv 1995. Périgueux 1996. Bolzano 1999. London 2012. Heidelberg 2021, Saarbrücken 2023. Lyons 2023-2024

    Bibliography

    I: Gütersloh 1993b, p. 165. Stuttgart 1993. Wien 1993b, p. 227. Vancouver 1994, pp. 14-15. Aschaffenburg 1995, p. 10. Ostfildern 1995, pp. 113-114. Regensburg 1995 a, pp. 258-260. Warzawa 1995, pp. 3-9, 11a. Arles 1996, pp. 167-168. Périgueux 1996, p. 11. Berlin 1997, p. 594. München 1997, p. 142. Bolzano 1999, pp. 23, 34, 58-63. Zürich 2000, p. 53. London 2012, p. 59. Vienna 2016, p.116. Paris 2017. Lyon 2024, pp. 158-159.

    II: Bernhard 1991. Blümler A. 1991, p. 11. Bollinger 1991, pp. 96-98. Gibson 1991, p. 18. Giessler 1991. Grund 1991. Haase 1, 1991, p. 37. Haase 2, 1991, p. 5. Heinrichs 1 - 6, 1991. Horch 1991, pp. 71-74. Leydecker 1991, p. 31. Maranz 1991, pp. 41-42. Red. 4-7, 1991. Red. 11-15, 1991. Schmid 1991, pp. 4-5. Albertazzi 1992, pp. 60-62. Caeneghem 1992, pp. 36-37. Endlich 1992, p. 57. Finkener 1992. Fleck 1, 1992, p. 17. Giessler 1992, p. 9. Haase 1992, pp. 12-14. Ibram 1992. Jhering 1992, p. 95. Puvogel 1992, pp. 94-96. Red. 8, 1992. Rosen 1992, p. 84. Saint-Cheron 1, 1992. Saint-Cheron 2, 1992, pp. 22-23. Schulz 1992, pp. 38-42. Thomas 1992, pp. 73-75. Vollmer 1992. Wagner 1, 1992, p. 27. Wiltz 1992. Wulffen 1992, pp. 26-28. Brumlik 1993. Erdmann 1993, p. 5. Gießler 1, 1993. Gorchacova 1993. Langenhan 2, 1993. L’Heuillet 1993, p. 27. Pajot 1993, p. 25. Red. 1+2, 1993. Red. 11, 1993, p. 11. Red. 13-15, 1993. Red. 23, 1993, p. 70. Salgas 1993, pp. 22-23. Sattler 1993. Schmid 1, 1993, pp. 6-7. Steinhauser 1993, p. 112. Viau 1993. Wajcman 1993, pp. 23-25. Young 1, 1993, p. 730. Ardenne 1994. Béraud 1994, p. 15. Grasskamp 1994. Metken 1994, p. 479. Müller 1994. Omnibus 1994. Raab 1994. Red. 25, 1994, p. 18. Robin 1, 1994. Salgas 1994, p. 25. Albertazzi 1995, pp. 20-21. Curtis 2, 1995. Dustin 1995. Fleck 1995, p. 80. Haase 1995. Reardon 1995, p. 44. Ansel 1996. Asmuth 1, 1997. Crüwell 1997. Fischer 2, 1997. Haase 2+3, 1997. Henke 1+2, 1997. Huther 1-5, 1997. Rudel 1+2, 1997. Stöckmann 1997. Wagner 2, 1997. Young, 1997, pp. 859ff.. Baumann 1998, p. 38. Pratiques. Réflexions sur l'art 6/1999, pp. 46-47. Guigues 2015, p. 16. Dragicevic-Sesic 2016. Golańska 2017, pp. 93-107. Poitevin 2017. Rousseau 2017. Sacks 2018. Marcoux 2019. Walsh 2019. Bougnoux 2020. Stamp 2020. Costa 2023. Graf 2023. Mansfield 2024.

    III: Rosen 1992, pp. 37-38. Flügge 1993, pp. 33-37. Lichtenstein 1993, pp. 10-16, E1. Sauerbier 1993, pp. 20, 23. Koenneke 1994, pp. 28-29. Mastei 1994, p. 7. Raab 1994. Abeele 1995, p. 94. Huther 1997. Lichtenstein/Waicman 1997, pp. 63ff., p. 81. Mesnard 1997, pp. 72ff. Young, 1997, p. 864

    IV: Nuremberg 2018, Saarbrücken 2023

    V: Heinrich 1993, p. 161. Schöllhammer 1993, pp. 34-35. Soulillou 1993, p. 297. Heinrichs 1995, pp. 16-18. Kunstamt Schöneberg 1995, p. 40. Reichel 1995, pp. 121-122. Reuße 1995, pp. 273-279. Taylor 1995, p. 139. Wiese 1995, p. 106. Metken 1996, p. 166. Midant 1996, p. 56. Harding 1997, p. 18. Wajcman 1998, pp. 192ff. Thierry 1998, pp. 44, 54, 56, 60. Riese Hubert, R. & Hubert, J. D., 1999, pp. 133-134. Baqué 2004, pp. 172-173, Scardi 2011, pp.186-188. Hoeven 2015, pp. 210-250. Frechuret 2016, pp. 287-294. Vickery 2, 2016, p.22. Rousseau 2017. Bailey 2020. Quercioli Mincer 2021, pp. 296-301. Salmona 2021, p. 155. Becker 2021. Lambertz 2021, pp. 191-194,204-205. An-Chi Cheng 2023, 301, 302, Pinotti 2023, pp. 136-137, 275. Norcia 2024, pp. 115-130.

    VI: L’art en temps de crisis 1994, pp. 154-155. Docquiert/Piron 1998, pp. 67-73.

    Access general bibliography

    My name is Jochen Gerz