Julia Schäfer: Re-reverse

The artist Julia Schäfer is showing a new video installation at Kunstraum 34.

In the video installation "Re-reverse", stolen and recast bells are swinging - witnesses of loss and destruction weighing several tons: during the world wars, over 145,000 German church bells were melted down for the armaments industry in order to "secure metal reserves for long-term warfare". The National Socialists found replacements in occupied territories such as Poland, the Czech Republic and the Netherlands. The bells selected by Julia Schäfer all have the same function: they ring as death bells to announce a death. A slowly disappearing tradition that was once an important means of communication. Their cast inscriptions suggest a kind of awareness: "Anselm Speck in Heidelberg cast me". But also: "AFTER LIFE FOLLOWS DEATH".