Eight national and international artists and teams were invited to the competition organized by Kunst im public Raum Wien GmbH (KÖR) and the Vienna Anti-Discrimination Agency for Same-Sex and Transgender Lifestyle (WASt). Seven submitted a draft. A jury of 16 chaired by Hannes Sulzenbacher (Center for Queer History – QWIEN) selected a winning project.
At the presentation, this depicts the simplest and most elementary interpersonal touch. Two pairs of hands are shown, namely two men and two women. However, they appear to be choppy on the joints. The cut surfaces or the table top are mirrored. The viewers are thus, as it were, part of the work of art, as was emphasized.
Artist Marc Quinn was known for his statue “Alison Lapper Pregnant”, which was placed on a pillar in Trafalgar Square in London in 2007. He also caused a stir with a head of frozen blood. The sculpture, created in the 1990s, is entitled “Self”.
The total budget for the competition and the realization is 300,000 euros. The project is supported by the City of Vienna and the National Fund of the Republic of Austria. Originally, the memorial should have been erected at Morzinplatz. But the project was technically not feasible on the site. Various temporary memorials followed.
“I am pleased that today we can present the winning design for the memorial to the men and women who were victims of the gay persecution during the Nazi era. It was very important to me from the start that we should do this historically implement important monuments in dialogue and with broad community participation “, emphasized Jürgen Czernohorszky (SPÖ), City Councilor responsible for anti-discrimination.
“A permanent memorial to homosexual victims of National Socialism is an important and necessary sign of recognition and appreciation in public space. The winning design that we are presenting today is the last step on the way to realization. The memorial also symbolizes the refusal of everyone Form of homophobia and reminds people to stand up for human rights when they are in danger, “affirmed Vienna’s City Councilor for Culture Veronica Kaup-Hasler (SPÖ.
The green councilor Peter Kraus emphasized: “For too long, the victims of homosexual persecution were invisible during the Nazi era. After many years of temporary projects, the permanent memorial now creates the historically necessary visibility and memory of the darkest chapter in our history.”
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