ÜBER DAS ENTFERNEN VERFASSUNGSFEINDLICHER SYMBOLE — ODER: ICH KANN BEIM BESTEN WILLEN KEINE HAKENKREUZE ERKENNEN
(ON THE REMOVAL OF UNCONSTITUTIONAL SYMBOLS — OR: AS HARD AS I TRY, I JUST CAN’T MAKE OUT A SWASTIKA)
(Title loosely adapted from a Martin Kippenberger painting)
The floor of the heavily frequented entrance to the Leibniz-Hall at the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities is covered with tiles that form swastika patterns. The work, ON THE REMOVAL OF UNCONSTITUTIONAL SYMBOLS, explicitly thematizes this floor.
By scanning a QR-code, visitors can listen to an explanation from the German Bundestag’s Research Services that thematizes the removal of constitutionally hostile symbols from third party property and the forms of legal punishment that can accompany such acts. It seems the cat bites its own tail: The removal of such symbols from private property represents a criminal act in Germany. The case from Research Services specifically points to the tiles upon which visitors are standing in that very moment as they listen to the recording - it poses questions as to how we should approach this floor as an officially protected landmark.
