(Un)Making Monuments – Hello Otto (English)

This contribution was developed as part of the block seminar Rethinking Monuments: Ideology, Narratives, and Artistic Interventions. The seminar was taught by Marla Heid in the winter semester 2024/25 in connection with the CRC Intervening Arts at Freie Universität Berlin. It explored how artistic practices critically engage with existing monuments and propose alternative forms of remembrance in public space. The contribution »Hallo Otto« explores how monumental memory in public space can be disrupted, reconfigured, and playfully traversed — between identity, ideology and aesthetic contradiction.

Imagine you are in the Tiergarten - between the interwoven branches and the flickering memories, the ground protected by the snow becomes a kaleidoscopic trampoline that catapults you into the worn-out dimensions of German identity, while monuments stick their tongues out at you with a wink. You stroll across the volatile carpet of history that keeps tripping you up. You step into the past, one step, and bang - you're in the Prussian monarchy, the Kaiser shouts: »I rule the world!«, you turn around - and boom, you end up in the middle of the Nazi era, the wind blows cold, the memory hurts, and you just freak out or don't give it a second thought and just think how beautifully the gilded bronze sparkles in the sunshine. 

Author: Richard Müller with the kind support of Markus Raimund Stefan

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