For “The Fleck”, Leipzig-based Günter Karl Bose found a very particular way of preserving the old GDR flag that he found in an old university storeroom and that was destined to be destroyed. He photographed it in details; beholders make out only a small excerpt on each double page of the book. The attempt at erasing all visible memory of the GDR, which is particularly visible in the demolition of the Palace of the Republic in Berlin and the rebuilding of an old castle, poses the question of which version of history actually remains intact.

In his short film “Radfahrer” Marc Thümmler confronts black-and-white photographs by the photographer Harald Hauswald with Stasi observations concerning the photographer. On show are Harald Hauswald’s images, which were taken in East Berlin in the 80s; heard off-screen are extracts from Hauswald’s Stasi file. The photographer’s monitors, the interpreters of his everyday life, additionally become critics of his photography who attempt to decipher and appraise the images.

In the video “Demolition”, by the Chinese artist and film-maker Huang Xiang, a performance can be seen at first: using a scalpel Huang etches the Chinese graphic character for demolition into the body of a standing, naked man. The photo’s presentation in the window of the artist’s studio in a small local Hutong lane leads to disputes with the residents. There are arguments over what art is and where art has its justification: in public, in residential areas or in locations or city districts expressly created for art.

An alternative dealing with images is described by the American Jason Lazarus with his project “Too hard to keep”. He asked people to send him images and make them available for his use; images they no longer want to own – because they are associated with sad or bad memories. Photographs are linked with emotions and memories, and they are important and necessary for thinking about the past.

The sheltered premises of Sankt Gertrud church are particularly well suited for this position. (The architect Gottfried Böhm is incidentally the father of the architect Paul Böhm, who planned the mosque in Cologne/Ehrenfeld.)