aufheben
cfl-2021-westopia-festival-©kim-wilfriedsson-131-web
aufheben, 2021
Multimedia installation, Westopia, library of Schloss Hülshoff
aufheben means
– abschaffen, auflösen, nicht länger bestehen lassen, annulieren, für ungültig erklären (to abolish, dissolve, make no longer exist, annul, declare invalid)
– bewahren, speichern, aufbewahren, zurücklegen, behüten, behalten, festhalten, verwahren, hinterlegen, aufnehmen (to preserve, save, store, keep, put back, guard, hold, deposit, record)
– aufsammeln, auflesen, aufklauben, aufnehmen, aufwischen, hochnehmen
(to repeal, pick up, collect )
„aufheben“ in the German language means both „to abolish“ and „to preserve“. Depending on the meaning attached to this word, it is perceived as a consolation or a stopgap. The dazzling ambiguity of the verb „aufheben“ points to the possibility of synthesising or transcending boundaries and opposing points of view, and thus to the opening of new perspectives in thought as well as action.
A polyphonic chorus composed of recordings of individual voices, all speaking the word „aufheben“ in its various meanings, flows around the visitors in the library of Schoss Hülshoff.
On the bookshelf are two small monitors, each showing a video recording of a performance that was performed and filmed both in a library and in a public park: One hand holds 60 sheets of white paper, handwritten in large black letters, showing 60 synonyms of the German word „aufheben“. The other hand grasps the top sheet and lets it fall, one sheet at a time, slowly and evenly to the ground.
On a large screen placed centrally on Annette von Droste-Hülshoff’s expansive historical desk, lexicon entries of the word „aufheben“ run, animated into an endless loop. The entries are from the Brockhaus of 1928, the Duden of 1934 and the Duden für sinnverwandte Wörter of 1986.
with the collaboration of:
Helene Kummer, animation
Judith Rau, video
Felix Raeithel, sound engineering
Jürgen Galli, media technology
Voices:
Altamirano, Anna Afijan, W Afijan, Jörg Albrecht, Remi Alkami, Bilge Aksac, Eda Aslan, Sven Beckstette, Oliver Bulas, Gaspard Catteau, Stephan Dillemuth, Gürsoy Dogtas, Annika Dorau, Jeanne Faust, Roberta Zoë Faust, Runa Feddersen, Junya Fujita, Björn Gailus, Dörte Habighorst, Lennart Häusser, Manuel Hafner, Ahmad Hamad, Alexander Iliashenko, Shahira Issa, Hugh James, Benjamin Janzen, Luisa Kleemann, Katrin Köhler, Nikita Kotliar, Lila-Zoé Krauß, Eve Larue, Sophia Leitenmayer, Anki Lepper, Xinyi Li, Yi Li, Justin Lieberman, Charlotte Livine, Hanne Loreck, Takeo Marquardt, Juno Meinecke, Thomas Meinecke, Wolfgang Müller, Fritzi Magic Ngceni, Pakama Ngceni, Julia Nordholz, Josie Overton, Florentine Pahl, Alice Peragine, Judith Rau, Kervin Saint Pere, Liz Schröder, Maya Schweitzer, Ariana Laila Sharif, Adnan Softic, Nuri Softic, Holger Steen, Dominik Styk, Luísa Telles, Laila Unger, Frederik Vium, Rados Vujaklija, Moritz Walker, Badrieh Wanli, Annie Weichselbaum, Nerea Wüst, Shuchang Xie
Languages spoken:
Albanian, Arabic, Bosnian, Chinese, Czech, Danish, Dari, Egyptian, English, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Isixhosa, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latin, Pashto, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Swiss German, Serbian, Slovak, Spanish, Syriac, Taiwanese, Turkish, Ukrainian