Ein Denkmal für die Ewigkeit
2024, Single channel video-installation, 16:9, 11’00”, Loop, Plaster, tombstone pieces, Dimensions variable
The installation comprises a single-channel video — showing the trace of recycled tombstones at the river Wien — and a plaster slab. The slab contains fragments of tombstones collected from the cemetery's waste disposal site, serving as a memorial-terrain. Audiences are invited to touch, sit or even step onto the slab.
Some argue that a death occurs not when a person passes away but when they are forgotten in the collective memory of all. We erect memorials to remember individuals, ideas, or events. Tombstones serve as memorials for the deceased. Through someone's death, they gain a form of life. A tombstone is a resistance to the inevitable phenomenon of death, expressed through the language of sculpture.
Described as a Necropolis, the Vienna Central Cemetery is one of the largest cemeteries in Europe. Just as tenants who cannot pay the rent are unwelcome, tombstones are removed if their ten-year lease is not renewed. Some of these tombstones meet unexpected fates. Memorials that have lost their subjects of commemoration, become pavement covering the riverbeds of Wienfluss. There, the tombstone reverts to being simply a stone. Just as the bodies of the deceased are laid to rest, the dead tombstones are also laid down. The title derives from the slogan of a Viennese memorial mason, who is also responsible for the deconstruction of tombstones.
Credits: 3D Scanning by H. Wraunek