Pat Binder Own presentation at the Foto/Graphik Galerie Käthe Kollwitz Brief Biographie Homepage Works, complete Biographie, Texts
	About the Project When I started to think of a proposal for the art-in-public-space-competition to design a Memory Mark in front of the location, where the Kollwitz-house was, I became conscious of the following: For decades a sculpture ascribed to Käthe Kollwitz defined the place. It had to be relocated for conservational reasons. It appeared to me as extremely problematic that - in the case of my proposal being accepted - my work would 'replace' that of the great German artist. In relation to this, a single artistic viewpoint seemed too one-sided as well as too limited. At the same time, I was looking for an artistic solution, that would built a bridge between the humanistic, socially critical mind of Käthe Kollwitz and our contemporary times and also call for a more active - »alive« - form of commemoration. Out of these considerations I developed the idea for the Foto/Graphik Galerie Käthe Kollwitz. Instead of a static object, my »artwork« is a dynamic concept. By inviting colleague artists to show their work at this strongly frequented public space - the Kollwitzplatz (plaza) in Berlin, different artistic perspectives are brought into play. For this, an illuminated billboard, normally used for advertising, was placed in front of the new building and converted into a »Mini-Gallery« in the urban space. Even passers-by, who would never visit a »real« gallery, are now confronted with unusual images, clearly different from the typical advertising aesthetics. It is not the main point that these images are accepted as »art« or not. Important for me is, that at least some of the people may stop and look more precisely and maybe give it a second thought. In the best of the cases the image would stick in their mind and perhaps be reflected upon in some way. An intensive public relation work is part of the project's concept. For each new presentation I send invitations and press releases, in which I inform about the respective artwork, the artist as well as about the project itself and its reason. In this way, the location in Prenzlauer Berg, where Käthe Kollwitz lived so many years, is called into memory again and again. With this website - I have also designed myself - the Foto/Graphik Galerie Käthe Kollwitz is extended into the »virtual space«. I hope it gains an even larger range of action.