Artist： Elmgreen & Dragset
Date：2007
Location： Tiergarten (a public park)
Media/Type： installation
Commissioner： German Federal Parliament
Researcher： Vera Tollmann
This monument is the first national monument of its kind. After the Third Reich collapsed, the gay community continued to be persecuted by the same law until 1969. It was not until 2002 that they were pardoned by the coalition government.
The shape and color of the memorial references Peter Eisenman’s “Memorial for the Murdered Jews of Europe”. It stands in an intimate part of Tiergarten Park which remains today a meeting place for gays in the evenings. On the front side of the grey cube is a window, through which visitors can see a short film of two kissing men. Every two years, the film inside the cube will be changed. Created by different artists, each video will offer an interpretation of a scene of gay or lesbian love.
According to artist’s interpretation, a monument should take on the characteristics of a living organism which is subject to dynamic change rather than being a static and final statement. The memorial seeks in various ways to exchange the monumental with the intimate, aiming to confront the public on a personal level rather than create a general sight or spectacle. |
