‘490 houses lest we forget’ | Installation | Germany 2011

For two days the Market place of Gunzenhausen (Germany) was the centre of an installation by the Artist Stephanie Rhode from Amsterdam. 490 houses with knitted facades were set up. In a very special way they brought back to life the memory of members of the Jewish community throughout time. Rhode mobilised numerous people from Germany and other countries to knit covers to form facades for simple miniature houses. These were set up at the market place as part of an intense operation, that lasted two days, to bring back to memory the homes of former Jewish citizens to participants and visitors alike. The installation continues to have an effect, even after the knitted houses were taken down, because every house rested on a purposely positioned piece of gold leaf on the ground of the market place. As the remaining outlines of gold leaf, reminiscent of the houses, are wearing away in the everyday life of the market place, we are reminded that something used to be there.