At its meeting on March 22, 2023, the Munich City Council unanimously voted in favor of the implementation of a permanent, participatory art project by the artist Ladislava Gažiová on Frauenplatz. The victims of the systematic persecution and murder during the Nazi regime are remembered as well as the current life of Sinti*zze and Rom*nja in Munich. In this way, the city also wants to counteract the discrimination that still exists. For the realization, the City Department of Arts and Culture is providing 180,000 euros from its art budget.
In a competition process, which was overseen by the Public Art and Public History departments of the City Department of Arts and Culture and conducted under the direction of the Head of the Department of Arts and Culture Anton Biebl, the jury voted in favor of Ladislava Gažiová’s design. The Plenary Assembly of the Munich City Council accepted the proposal of the jury.
Extract from the jury’s statement:
“The design by Prague-based artist Ladislava Gažiová combines memories of the historical persecution of Sinti*zze and Rom*nja with the present, the life and identity of Sinti*zze and Rom*nja in Munich today. The central element is a ground monument that is composed of triangles in a fluid form and creates a reference to the “black triangle”. In the NS regime, the “black triangle” served as a marker for supposedly “asocial” and “incompetent people”. The two-dimensional sum of the triangles is intended to create a permanent, dark stain of history in public space – comparable to the deadly stains of the plague, with which the artist compares Nazi ideology.”
The concept of Ladislava Gažiová gives the involvement of the city’s population a central role. The design and laying of the stones is to be carried out jointly with Sinti*zze and Rom*nja from Munich. Work on artwork will start in mid-2023.
The ground monument is temporarily supplemented with a mobile and well-equipped library. It is housed in a converted trailer and will serve as a meeting place at changing locations while the work of art is being created. The cultural wealth of the Sinti*zze and Rom*nja is reflected in workshops, readings and other activities. The program aims to raise public awareness of Sinti*zze and Rom*nja issues, including issues of current discrimination.
Ladislava Gažiová, born in 1981 in Spišská Nová Ves, Slovakia, lives and works in Prague.
