Was ist die Geschichte von diesem Ort?

Erfurt| Germany May/June 2010

Process based participatory installation, Site-specific wall of derelict building

This was an attempt to make a history of Pergamentergasse 1 in Erfurt, Germany. This location is a street just off the Dom Platz. The plot once had a building on it and the walls on 2 sides of it show evidence of this. Erfurt is the capital of Thuringia, Germany, it presents itself as a medieval city, but as a visitor asked to respond to it I found it sterile because it’s historical centre was either preserved or restored to a slightly ‘Disney’ version of a medieval city. It was beautiful but felt as if something was missing, I wondered why only one part of the city’s heritage was on view and so I decided to very visibly try to find out and create a history of a derelict plot of land which was off a side street in the city centre.

After posting a series of questions on the remaining walls of this piece of land, going to the city archive and meeting with the owner of the land I tried to find a way to present all the information I had found with as little of my own interpretation of it as possible. I made a poster that was 1 ½ stories high