Ariane Mueller, Martin Ebner

Berlin, 2008

Institution
Montgomery, Berlin

Location
Gallery space

Synopsis
The monument of civil disobedience is not a work in public space but a monument model for an existing public space structure. It shows en miniature a multi-storey building during the refurbishment process. With the facade hid behind opaque curtains, and the renovation stretching over more than two years, the inhabitants in this actually existing building in Berlin, Kreuzberg, deprived of daylight started to riot. They individually started to cut holes into the fabric, some of them following the outlines of windows, some just slashing into the curtain, some erasing bigger parts. The building was documented and built as a model, accurately showing the size, place and form of the inhabitans contributions to the monument.

Installed on a pedestal it also gave necessary additional information, showing the share value curve of the real estate company behind this (and other similar buildings in Berlin) during the time of the renovation, the bankruptcy of the company, and the average social structure of Kreuzberg’s Kottbusser Tor, where the building was situated.

Technical details
Metal structure, transparent paper, neon tube, pedestal: wood and inscriptions