Berlin | ArtRegion: Neukölln

Centrum

Mathias Weinfurter: Collapsing Memories

10. September – 3. Oktober 2021

Centrum is excited to announce the solo exhibition Collapsing Memories by Mathias Weinfurter, one of the artists selected during our last open call.

Mathias Weinfurter’s work is characterized by an interest in monumentality and a meticulous study of formal and informal ways of remembering. For his exhibition at Centrum he will be presenting an installation influenced by a series of current events shaping the public space and historical narrative of the city of Berlin.

In recent decades, an increasing societal desire for representation and participation in decisions about politics of remembrance can be observed. As various groups partake in the process of negotiating social identity, a disagreement arises between contemporary knowledge and symbolic monuments such as statues, buildings, street names, and other. The demolition of the Palace of the Republic, the erasure of street names bearing traces of racism and colonialism and their replacement with others contributing to a more sanitized culture of public memory -as in the case of the African Quarter in Wedding, M-Straße, or May Ayim Ufer-, are witnessing an evident shift of perspective.

These phenomena pose questions about the dynamic processes of shaping history, the linearity and solidity of the latter, as well as the undercurrents influencing the formation of the public landscape. A monument is thought of as something solid and everlasting; a legitimate and objective witness of historical facts. But is that really the case? Mathias Weinfurter invites us to think on the ephemerality of monuments, their relationship towards the structures of power, and the hidden layers below contemporary expressions of public memory.