Mathias Weinfurter

In recent years, Mathias Weinfurter’s work has focused on current issues of remembrance culture and politics. During the HESTIA Art Residency, he was able to explore these connections in Serbia and other countries of the former Yugoslavia. His starting point was an examination of the anti-fascist memorials built in the 1950s to 1980s, commemorating the sites of World War II and the Holocaust. While during the Yugoslav era they served as socially relevant excursion and educational sites, their significance changed during the Yugoslav wars, and they were partially destroyed by political iconoclasts or remain abandoned to this day. Occasionally, memorials have been renovated in recent years, and there is a growing interest in their artistic expressions and their creators.

Mathias’ aim was to understand the dynamics of remembrance culture and its shaping in the region in order to gain insights that may also be relevant for other current events. He had a particular interest in the architect Bogdan Bogdanović, who hails from Belgrade. Bogdanović’s first realized project is the Monument to the Jewish Victims of Fascism in the Sephardic cemetery in Belgrade, completed in 1952. Mathias visited the memorial several times, accompanied by architectural historian Jelica Jovanović, who extensively studied Bogdanović’s work and co-edited the book BOGDAN BOGDANOVIĆ BIBLIOTEKA BEOGRAD. Bogdanović became one of the most relevant designers in Yugoslav memorial architecture. His most famous works include the Partisan Memorial Cemetery in Mostar and the Jasenovac Memorial Site in Jasenovac.

During his time in Belgrade, Mathias also installed a Status Quo Ladder, as part of the artist’s long-term intervention project. Following the model of the so-called Status Quo Ladder at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, Mathias began installing ladders in 2018. In the course of this intervention, it is important for the artist to adhere to the stereotype of the Jerusalem ladder while also considering site-specific conditions. The Status Quo Ladder Belgrade stands on an abruptly ending concrete bridge. An architecture that lost its former significance but is assigned a new function as a pedestal for the ladder through the intervention. The wooden ladder is a found object. It appears improvised and was assembled from two parts. Mathias installed the ladder and declared it the Status Quo Ladder. From that moment on, the scope of his influence ends.

Mathias Weinfurter (b. 1989) lives and works in Cologne and Darmstadt. He studied Fine Arts, majoring in Sculpture at the HfG Offenbach University of Art and Design and Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem. In recent years, presentations of his work have included exhibitions at artothek in Cologne, Moltkerei Werkstatt in Cologne, Kunstverein Bellevue-Saal in Wiesbaden, Kressmann Halle in Offenbach am Main, Bistro 21 in Leipzig, and Ruttkowski;68 in Cologne. He has participated in AiR programs in Ukraine, South Africa, South Korea, and Colombia. He also regularly organizes international artistic encounters. His work has been honoured by the Friedrich-Vordemberge-Scholarship of the City of Cologne, the Charlotte-Prinz-Scholarship of the City of Darmstadt as well as scholarships from Stiftung Kunstfonds, Hessische Kulturstiftung and Kunststiftung NRW.

Acknowlegdegement: Ana Panić, Andreja Drobnjak, Anja Obradovic, Jelica Jovanović, Neva Lukić, Rena Raedle, Simona Ognjanović, Slobodanka Stupar, Vladana Putnik Prica, Zlatko Stojčeski