Chipping away the façade / Brückenkopfgebäude Ost – Beginning February 17, 2009

Press Release
16 February 2009

AMIDST US: THE DECONSTRUCTION OF A BUILDING
AN INSTALLATION BY HITO STEYERL

Linz09 has been taking a variety of approaches to dealing with this city’s recent history and with the time of National Socialism in particular. One is “The Führer’s Capital of Culture” (September 16, 2008–March 29, 2009) exhibition that has been the focus of intense interest by locals and visitors alike. Linz09 now presents another important, ground-breaking project.

The AMIDST US installation tells the story of Linz’s Brückenkopfgebäuden, buildings adjacent to the main bridge across the Danube, whose construction was closely connected with the terror-filled history of National Socialism. A confrontation with the actual material substance of these buildings will reveal traces of everyday life under the Nazis. AMIDST US is creating a highly visible representation of what actually went into erecting these structures.
In concrete terms—a section of the façade of the east building will be chipped away by construction workers this week. Work gets under way on Tuesday, February 17, 2009.

From now until February 27, 2009 in what used to be a retail space (the so-called umbrella maker’s shop) in the Brückenkopfgebäude, Berlin artist Hito Steyerl will be setting up a video installation designed to complement the act of chipping away a portion of the building’s façade. She’ll present archive material and documents, interviews with contemporary eyewitnesses to history, as well as the building and grounds in its current form.

Five video accounts will relate various narratives having to do with the building. Accordingly, the façade will be chipped away to form a pattern, a simplified representation of the geographical routes traveled by the protagonists of these stories—being captured and enslaved, fleeing, journeying. The façade will thus become a symbolic map of Nazi slave labor, expulsion and extermination.

The area where the façade has been hacked away will remain visible until spring 2010. Then, the building will get a new coat of plaster and be restored to its previous state.

This project has been produced in cooperation with BIG Austrian Federal Real Estate Corporation, the actual owner of the Brückenkopfgebäude. The staging of this project has been coordinated with the Austrian Federal Monuments Office.

WHAT // INSTALLATION
WHEN // February 28, 2009 – December 2009
WHERE // Brückenkopfgebäude Ost, Hauptplatz
IDEA / CONCEPT // Hito Steyerl
PROJECT STAFF // Sebastian Markt (historian), Gabu Heindl (architect), Hermann Rafetseder (historian), Luis Wohlmuther (production) et al.
OPENING // February 27, 2009, 3:30 PM
In cooperation with BIG Austrian Federal Real Estate Corporation

Kepler Salon
Monday, February 23, 2009, 7:30 PM
Kepler Salon
Rathausgasse 5, 1st Upper Level, 4020 Linz

Press conference
Friday, February 27, 2009, 9 AM
Linz09 Pressecenter
Hauptplatz 5, 4020 Linz

Opening of the AMIDST US installation
Friday, February 27, 2009, 3:30 PM
Brückenkopf Building East
Hauptplatz, 4020 Linz