DENK MAL… (#1)
Denkmal
noun 1: German for monument.
denk
noun 1: German for thought 2 verb: the imperative of denken, to think.
denk mal (an)
“think about it”.
During my artist residency at HB Berlin, I walked from home to base and back, trying to listen closely and actively to place, attending to the small, the subtle, the unstable and the slow. I set out to make connections at ground level, on foot and on the go, without losing sight of disconnections. I walked alone and alongside; both on my own and assisted by the scroller. During one particular outing with Vera and Hanae, as we were digging for asides and overlooked corners, we encountered an odd and mysterious object embedded in the sidewalk. A metallic frame, too tall to be intended for locking bikes, too awkwardly positioned to hold advertisements. Hanae swung from it, Vera photographed it, I measured and sketched it, we interviewed passersby about it. Now long after learning its original intended use, I’m still being strongly drawn to this menhir-like structure, still making drawings of it, still drawing attention to it and all its possible different uses and meanings. By restoring it and honoring its presence in a more official-ish way, I’m hoping to set it in motion in a way that it remains untranslatable, unknowable and in process; oscillating between the banal and the valuable, fixity and movement, being a relic and a monument.
Hanae and Vera
Pre-restoration (detail #1).
Pre-restoration (detail #2).
Pre-restoration (detail #3).
The internationally recognized ‘Blue Shield’ emblem of the “International Register of Cultural Property” (Article 16 of the 1954 Hague Convention; adopted by the UNESCO).
Marking originally used in the GDR to mark protected buildings/monuments. Now used in most German states.
Special thanks: Vera Schöpe, Hanae Utamura, Adrian Brun, Oliver Staadt, Dana Claasen, Laura Jefcoate, Sarah Lüdemann, HomeBase Build IV.
