history Archive | malenki.net

Between Faces, Stories and Power

Robert Schlotter — Mon, 24 Nov 2025 20:46:15 +0000

Historically, China has been a highly centralized place, with power often concentrated in a single ruler. This centralization appears not only in political structures but also in the accumulation of materials archives. The forbidden city was once the epicenter of this centralized power, where artifacts, documents, and treasures were carefully aggregated and preserved. This book by Lai Ping So and Wai Lun Hsu re-examines the centralized structure by revisiting these artifacts in a contemporary context. In this work, the artists curated historical, archival, and contemporary fragments, images from visits to the three Palace Museums (Taipei, Beijing, Hong Kong) and archival material from the National Palace Museum in Taipei. The three museums are connected through a shared archive originally from the Forbidden City’s imperial collection. The books’ non-linear structure explores centralized hierarchies in East Asian history and its ties to traditional Chinese philosophy and aesthetics.

Der Beitrag Between Faces, Stories and Power erschien zuerst auf malenki.net.

Far away from home: the voices, the body and the periphery

Robert Schlotter — Fri, 22 Sep 2023 20:09:00 +0000

“All utopias are depressing because they leave no room to chance, to difference, to those who are ‘different’. Everything has been ordered; order reigns. Behind every utopia lies a great taxonomic design: a place for everything and every thing in its place.” — Georges Perec, Thoughts of Sorts

Hristina Tasheva: Far away from home: the voices, the body and the periphery is a project inspired by a heated debate that took place some time ago. In public, a Dutch citizen with an academic background asked me: “Are you a communist?” To understand what it means to be a communist, I have chosen to place the word in its historical contexts in the Netherlands and in Bulgaria.

Der Beitrag Far away from home: the voices, the body and the periphery erschien zuerst auf malenki.net.

La Ligne claire / Die Helle Linie

Robert Schlotter — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 22:07:43 +0000

Commissioned by the Land of Sarre (Saarland, Germany) and the Department of Moselle, La Ligne claire / Die Helle Linie by Guillaume Greff aims to question the regional architectural signs and traces of the period of reconstruction after the Second World War — Franco-German history expressed in space and architecture. Being local to this region,… Continue reading La Ligne claire / Die Helle Linie

Der Beitrag La Ligne claire / Die Helle Linie erschien zuerst auf malenki.net.

The forgotten mobilization

Robert Schlotter — Fri, 27 Mar 2020 13:20:08 +0000

The forgotten mobilization is dealing with the relationship between historiography, gender and urban space using the example of Lutherstadt Wittenberg using different media. The artist deals with alternative narratives within the existing historiography and the utopian potential which can be applied to them. On the basis of a fictitious historical scenario The general strike of women of Wittenberg on 4 May 1987 Luise Schröder asks “what could have happened”. On one hand, the memorial plaque designed for public space recalls this fictitious historical event, while simultaneously discussing the conditions of historiography and historical narratives. The typeface design Friedlaender especially designed for the plaque by Reymund Schröder, is a homage to the Jewish font designer Elisabeth Friedländer, who worked in Germany in the 1930s. The double-sided poster provides information on the reasons and the course of the strike. As installation The forgotten mobilization is supplemented by a video that presents suggestions by citizens of Wittenberg to the question which women of Wittenberg should be mentioned on possible memorial plaques in the city. This public survey was carried out by the artist in the run-up to this work.

Der Beitrag The forgotten mobilization erschien zuerst auf malenki.net.

In Belief Is Power

Robert Schlotter — Fri, 03 May 2019 12:05:05 +0000

Being a Bulgarian immigrant in Western Europe, I know how important the welcoming and friendly attitude of the local people is for the newcomers. How great my indignation was when Bulgaria, my home country, the place of origin for two million emigrants, tolerated nationalist groups to hunt down Muslim refugees who were illegally crossing E.U.’s external border with Turkey.

The articles in the Western media informing about the activities of the Bulgarian nationalists raised a lot of questions for me. I am trying to express these with the present project: what provokes one’s fear of foreigners; what is the life and history of the local population who live near the border, where different political interests intersect; what is the “Bulgarian” identity exactly made up of; how does the border region reflect what is happening across Europe; is there a “beautiful” nationalism that would help a vanishing nation preserve itself (Bulgaria is said to be the fastest disappearing nation in the world); and, finally, what connects us as people?

The title of the book is borrowed from an inscription from a small chapel in the border area, built in honor of St. Marina: “In faith is power”. I have changed it to “In belief is power” in order to address the relationship of belief not only with religion, but also with different political and economic systems, as well as the consequences of these relationships.

Der Beitrag In Belief Is Power erschien zuerst auf malenki.net.

Leopold’s Legacy – Edition

Robert Schlotter — Tue, 06 Dec 2016 21:07:24 +0000

Leopold’s Legacy by Oliver Leu deals with the forms of representation of the colonial history in Belgium. In his speech from the throne in 1865 king Leopold II dreamed of a Belgium that would be bigger, stronger and more beautiful one day. When he became the private owner of the Congo in 1885 his dream started to become true. It ended when the Congo atrocities became known and the king had to hand his colony over to the belgium state in 1908.
In his project Oliver Leu is looking at the different aspects of the representation of the colonial past that are visible in monuments, buildings and citiescapes. He is also drawn to the hidden parts of this history. The artist questions how monuments change their meaning when we look at them today and how the perception of Leopold‘s role as a glorious king has altered in the last 100 years or more.

Der Beitrag Leopold’s Legacy – Edition erschien zuerst auf malenki.net.