The Art of the Counter-Investigation

The plurality and openness of democratic coexistence has been challenged in the last three decades in Germany by a multitude of violent right-wing, mostly racist and antisemitic crimes. Therefore, criminal investigation, the political prevention of such acts, and public commemoration of the victims are enormously important for the future of democratic societies. But what if the violence itself is due to state action, the involvement of civil society, or failures by the authorities and of criminal investigations? In the case of the violent acts of the NSU and other right-wing extremists in recent years, it was primarily political activists and solidarity movements that addressed the inadequacy of criminal investigations and the lack of empathy in society.
There are also numerous remarkable artistic works that deal with these acts of violence. The project understands these as counter-investigations, which, through the application of legal and scientific procedures in the context of art, have brought forth insights into the respective events, while at the same time taking a critical look at the juridical and socio-political procedures themselves. Based on individual works (among them those on the NSU) and by focusing the attack in Hanau on February 19, 2020, the project examines the epistemological and political aspects of artistic counterinvestigations and their potential to intervene in the discourse on right-wing violence.