As part of the Festival of Lights Leipzig on October 9, 2024 to commemorate the Peaceful Revolution, students of the HGB Leipzig presented artistic works at two locations.
The works in front of the Paulinum and on Augustusplatz shed light on the historical complexity of the square and question its visibility today. The students question clichés and differences between East and West and examine how it is possible to unite and stand up for common values even when united.
In their work in the surroundings of the memorial museum in the “Runde Ecke”, the students critically examine the memory of a sense of unity from 1989, the question of the visibility of marginalized groups and the struggle for power and control.
Sven Bergelt, Juliane Jaschnow and Dieter Daniels were responsible for the conception and management of the project and the implementation of the seminar.
The project took place in cooperation with Leipzig Tourismus und Marketing GmbH.
The works in front of the Paulinum and on Augustusplatz shed light on the historical complexity of the square and question its visibility today. The students question clichés and differences between East and West and examine how it is possible to unite and stand up for common values even when united.
In their work in the surroundings of the memorial museum in the “Runde Ecke”, the students critically examine the memory of a sense of unity from 1989, the question of the visibility of marginalized groups and the struggle for power and control.
Sven Bergelt, Juliane Jaschnow and Dieter Daniels were responsible for the conception and management of the project and the implementation of the seminar.
The project took place in cooperation with Leipzig Tourismus und Marketing GmbH.
Tianxu Liu »Aufbruch«
3D printing on plinth
Video projection on façade scaffolding
The bronze relief “Aufbruch” by Frank Ruddigkeit, Klaus Schwabe and Rolf Kurth, which was installed above the main entrance to the former Karl Marx University from 1974 to 2006, has been reinstalled on the Jahnallee campus. Today, nothing remains of the relief at its original location. In geology, the term “break-up” also stands for the emergence of a “gap”. In his installation work at the former location, the artist deals with the displacement of the relief by both reducing and enlarging it proportionally and thus making its invisibility visible.
Video projection on façade scaffolding
The bronze relief “Aufbruch” by Frank Ruddigkeit, Klaus Schwabe and Rolf Kurth, which was installed above the main entrance to the former Karl Marx University from 1974 to 2006, has been reinstalled on the Jahnallee campus. Today, nothing remains of the relief at its original location. In geology, the term “break-up” also stands for the emergence of a “gap”. In his installation work at the former location, the artist deals with the displacement of the relief by both reducing and enlarging it proportionally and thus making its invisibility visible.
Eszter Szöke and Samuel Ellinghoven »ununited united«
Facade projection
Society is barricading itself in its trenches. It is as divided as ever. But there is one thing we can agree on: We are united in being united. The work 'united united' consists of the projection of three sentence fragments onto the façade of the university's Paulinum. Based on the current social polarization, the written work pleads for common ground, encounters and the acceptance of differences.
Graphic: Romina Vetter
Society is barricading itself in its trenches. It is as divided as ever. But there is one thing we can agree on: We are united in being united. The work 'united united' consists of the projection of three sentence fragments onto the façade of the university's Paulinum. Based on the current social polarization, the written work pleads for common ground, encounters and the acceptance of differences.
Graphic: Romina Vetter
Merlin Rainer »Upload DDR«
Animated movie
7:10 min
A drama takes place against the backdrop of the East German past. Young people film themselves dancing with their cell phones. They dance to HardTekk, stamp their feet on the floor and try to keep up with the fast rhythm. What kind of emptiness are they trying to counter with the speed and volume of their music? The short film 'UPLOAD DDR' uses traditional cartoon animation to illuminate a scene that is not about memory, but about the desire to capture, fill up and perhaps replace the past. Music: Junyu Guo, Laura Große
7:10 min
A drama takes place against the backdrop of the East German past. Young people film themselves dancing with their cell phones. They dance to HardTekk, stamp their feet on the floor and try to keep up with the fast rhythm. What kind of emptiness are they trying to counter with the speed and volume of their music? The short film 'UPLOAD DDR' uses traditional cartoon animation to illuminate a scene that is not about memory, but about the desire to capture, fill up and perhaps replace the past. Music: Junyu Guo, Laura Große
Asya Volodina »Meters of Silence«
Performative installation
In 1989, the demonstrators approached the Round Corner - the former district administration of the State Security Service - with courage, hope and a great deal of fear. They didn't know what to expect. And yet they went on - silently. Asya Volodina's collective performance focuses on this silent moment. The moment before the demonstrators knew that their stand for freedom and democracy would be successful.All visitors to the Festival of Lights are invited to walk along the section in front of the Round Corner in silence. Let this piece of silence become a sculpture. For what or for whom would you like to remain silent today?
In 1989, the demonstrators approached the Round Corner - the former district administration of the State Security Service - with courage, hope and a great deal of fear. They didn't know what to expect. And yet they went on - silently. Asya Volodina's collective performance focuses on this silent moment. The moment before the demonstrators knew that their stand for freedom and democracy would be successful.All visitors to the Festival of Lights are invited to walk along the section in front of the Round Corner in silence. Let this piece of silence become a sculpture. For what or for whom would you like to remain silent today?
Dayoung Jung »Du neben uns«
Video installation
5:23 min
This research-based video work deals with collective and invisible memories of the Peaceful Revolution and the transformation that followed. Together with a Korean woman who has lived in Leipzig since the 1980s, she addresses her perspective and combines it with distorted archive images from 1989. The video questions how memories are preserved, conveyed and historicized as part of a shared history - and to what extent previously unnoticed perspectives should become part of the culture of remembrance.
5:23 min
This research-based video work deals with collective and invisible memories of the Peaceful Revolution and the transformation that followed. Together with a Korean woman who has lived in Leipzig since the 1980s, she addresses her perspective and combines it with distorted archive images from 1989. The video questions how memories are preserved, conveyed and historicized as part of a shared history - and to what extent previously unnoticed perspectives should become part of the culture of remembrance.
Emanuel Aeneas Megersa and Michael Schlecht »Ich liebe doch alle Menschen«
2-channel video installation
4:27 min
Handshakes, pats on the back, hugs and kisses: Gestures of friendship, closeness and tenderness, performed by people with political and economic power on public stages, contain ambivalent meanings. The two-channel video 'Ich liebe doch alle Menschen' (I love all humans) follows such gestures using found footage and places them in the context of a video game principle.
4:27 min
Handshakes, pats on the back, hugs and kisses: Gestures of friendship, closeness and tenderness, performed by people with political and economic power on public stages, contain ambivalent meanings. The two-channel video 'Ich liebe doch alle Menschen' (I love all humans) follows such gestures using found footage and places them in the context of a video game principle.
Li Huhn »Bist du gut angekommen?«
Video installation
5:13 min
The video work addresses the departure and arrival in the context of the peaceful protests of 1989 and German reunification as well as their influence on today's society. Leipzig's Wilhelm-Leuschner-Platz S-Bahn station, named “Platz der Friedlichen Revolution” (Square of the Peaceful Revolution), is an architecturally cool and uninviting space that raises site-specific questions: Where are we going? Where do we arrive? And will we return? In relation to the culture of remembrance of 1989/1990, the work encourages an examination of the representation of memory and the significance of meeting spaces.
5:13 min
The video work addresses the departure and arrival in the context of the peaceful protests of 1989 and German reunification as well as their influence on today's society. Leipzig's Wilhelm-Leuschner-Platz S-Bahn station, named “Platz der Friedlichen Revolution” (Square of the Peaceful Revolution), is an architecturally cool and uninviting space that raises site-specific questions: Where are we going? Where do we arrive? And will we return? In relation to the culture of remembrance of 1989/1990, the work encourages an examination of the representation of memory and the significance of meeting spaces.
Hana Hazem Arabi »Als würde ich mit der Sonne spielen«
Video performance
2:10 min
“After several failed attempts, I managed to break through this misguided immune system in me. Since then, I have viewed borders as a potential fake, as a product of propaganda. These borders are made of concrete.” Boris Nikitin from “An attempt to die”
In his video performance, Hana Hazem Arabi negotiates borders and how they divide spaces, control the body, trigger the need for liberation and leave traces and memories.
Text: Boris Nikitin Video: Shadi Jaber
2:10 min
“After several failed attempts, I managed to break through this misguided immune system in me. Since then, I have viewed borders as a potential fake, as a product of propaganda. These borders are made of concrete.” Boris Nikitin from “An attempt to die”
In his video performance, Hana Hazem Arabi negotiates borders and how they divide spaces, control the body, trigger the need for liberation and leave traces and memories.
Text: Boris Nikitin Video: Shadi Jaber