»performing monuments«
shortfilm, singlechannel, HD, 15:07, color, sound, 2018
Katrin Winkler conducts intensive research into the question of how historical events and their consequencesare kept in public consciousness with visual strategies and demonstrative actions, and what determinesthe visibility or invisibility of individual discourses. Her artistic research in terms of concepts such as monument, memory, recognition and responsibility examines how history is written, what social conditions are behind it and what critical potential is formulated.
Winkler examines complex political contexts from various perspectives and combines her search for
traces with archive materials, personal interviews and literary quotations. Her most recent work performing monuments is a continuation of her thematic examination of the consequences of colonialism, genocide and apartheid in Namibia.
Winkler draws attention to today‘s commemoration of the genocide of the Herero and Nama by the German colonial power (1904-1908) as well as to an old colonial monument and celebrations commemorating
Namibia‘s struggle for independence. This is combined with images from telescopes used to measure cosmic gamma rays. Contributions by the spoken word poet Nesindano „Khoes“ Namises, by Esther Utjiua Muinjangue, Chairwoman of the Ovaherero Genocide Foundation, and by the musician and performer
Cecilia Oletu Nghidengwa additionally ask how memory is formed.