490 houses lest we forget

‘490 Houses Lest We Forget’ | Installation | Germany 2011

Memory and Reflection

For two days, the marketplace of Gunzenhausen (Germany) became the center of an installation by the artist Stephanie Rhode from Amsterdam. 490 houses with knitted facades were set up. In a very special way, they revived the memory of the Jewish community throughout time. Rhode had mobilized numerous people from Germany and many other countries to knit covers for simple miniature houses that formed the facades.

As part of an intensive two-day action, the 490 knitted houses were set up in the marketplace of Gunzenhausen. The aim of this installation was to remind participants and visitors of the former Jewish citizens who had lived in this city for centuries.

Even after the knitted houses were taken down, the installation continued to resonate. Each house had rested during the action on a deliberately placed rectangle of gold leaf, which had been affixed to the cobblestones of the marketplace. The remaining outlines of the gold leaf, reminiscent of the houses, gradually faded in the daily life of the marketplace. But it was precisely this fading that turned the installation “490 Houses Lest We Forget” into a modern Memento Mori.

Through its temporary presence, the installation had a lasting impact. It had prompted reflection on the interplay of memory and forgetting, on holding on and letting go, and was, at the same time, an impressive, albeit fleeting, monument.

490 houses lest we forget

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