Vienna is going to have a memorial commemorating
the homosexual and transgender victims of National Socialism.
By creating such a place of memory both, passers-by and
the broad public representing Vienna’s city life
shall be made aware of the fact that under the Nazi regime
people were persecuted, deported and murdered for their
sexual orientation and identity together with many other
groups of victims.
The initiative was launched on the occasion of the anniversary
year of the Austrian Republic 2005 by Andreas Mailath-Pokorny,
the City Councillor for Cultural Affairs and Science, and
Sonja Wehsely, the City Councillor with responsibility
for antidiscrimination.
The City of Vienna’s Department for Cultural Affairs
and Science and its Department for Integration, Questions
of Women’s Rights, Consumer’s Protection and
Human Resources decided Morzinplatz, situated at the edge
of the Inner City at Donaukanal, to be the location for the
memorial. That is why Kunst im öffentlichen Raum Wien
(Art in Public Space Vienna) invited seven artists to participate
in an international competition. The Wissenschaftszentrum
Wien organized the competition. The advisory board for Kunst
im öffentlichen Raum Wien and members of the jury co-opted
as experts decided on the submitted concepts. A community
board with representatives from Vienna’s main lesbian,
gay and transgender institutions, created especially for
this competition, had also been incorporated in the discussion
process.
Now the project Der Rosa Platz | The Pink Place submitted
by the Austrian artist Hans Kupelwieser is going to be
realized.
The Pink Place is a shallow stretch of water covering
400 m2 on the Morzinplatz. The water itself will be colored
pink.Stretching across the basin is a relief
with the letters “QUE(E)R” looking out of it.
Stepping from letter to letter one can walk across 1the
basin. |
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"QUE(E)R" is a symbol for the commemoration
of the victimized and murdered homosexuals and transgender
persons of the past. "QUE(E)R" is an autonomous
platform and a basis for the future of all (sexually) different-minded
people. "QUE(E)R" is an allusion to the internationally
common description for gays, lesbians, intersexuals and
transgenders – all those who break the rules of hetero-normativity. “Unconventional
thinker” (“Querdenker” in German), “to
be crosswise” (“quer sein”), “to
oppose to something” (“sich querlegen”)
are further associations which the term “QUE(E)R” provokes. "QUE(E)R" builds
a bridge across 2time. It is memory, it breaks (traditions)
and permanently opens new ways and makes waves.
In its coloring The Pink Place is strongly reminiscent
of the “Pink Triangle”, the badge those who
were victimized and murdered for their sexual orientation
during the Nazi era were forced to wear.
"QUE(E)R" is an open place for an open-minded
society. The Pink Place is a meeting place, a place of
contemplation or simply a place where you can dip your
strained feet into the refreshing water on a hot summer
day.
Like a “red” carpet, “QUE(E)R” leads
to the Inner City which, at the same time, is reflected
on its surface. This temporary reproduction of the city
gets overlapped by reflections of the passers-by and invites
them to stay, to watch and to remember.
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