Seeing the void. Forms of visual representationof so-called “Arisierungen” in contemporary art

Abstract “To see the void means to register something in perception that belongs to that perception but is absent in it; it means to see the absence of what is missing as a quality of presence.” — Rudolf Arnheim, Visual Thinking, Cologne 1972, p. 92. The goal of my dissertation is to analyze forms and methods of visual representations by contemporary artists of so-called “Arisierungen” (“Aryanization”), a term coined by the Nazis, which means the forced transfer of property from the Jewish population in Germany, Austria and German-occupied Europe to new Nazi owners. How can this organized robbery, the destruction of contexts, relationships and processes of restitution be visualized by contemporary artists? How can history and historicity – at the same time agent and object depicted – be visualized by artists? Which forms of medialization can be found for the absence of these stolen objects and the destructed relationships between them and their lawful owners? In which ways are these objects witnesses of trauma?These questions are relevant today, since witnesses of the holocaust are gradually disappearing. Due to this fact, the communicative memory is transformed into a cultural memory. The analysis of works of art dealing with so-called “Arisierungen” makes it necessary to analyze the discourses of legitimate forms of visual representation of Nazi crimes as well as art after Auschwitz. The interdisciplinary dissertation project analyzes the central discourses such as memory, history/historicity and void/absence. Based on these theoretical concepts, case studies of the artistic work of Maria Eichhorn and Arno Gisinger et al. will follow–focusing methodically on the social histories of art. The dissertation will also bring into focusthe relationship between the institution (e.g. the museum) and these artists. Do the artists work on behalf of the institutionto research the itsown history, or are their projects independently executed? How can these works be contextualized in terms of (post) conceptual,institutional critique and documentarism?