The »Open Trial« exhibition is dedicated to the effects of racist and right-wing acts of violence using the example of the NSU complex. The social reappraisal of the NSU complex is still ongoing. The exhibition takes the (East) German reality, especially in Saxony, as a starting point to tell a story of the NSU complex: it tells of migration histories, structural and institutional racism, the continuities of right-wing and racist violence and of resistance against it.
The artistic works in the exhibition, which have been shown throughout Germany since 2021 and now for the first time in Dresden, are dedicated to the realities of the lives of guest workers, contract workers, migration stories, everyday life in Germany, right-wing terrorist violence and everyday racism. Contributions from activist initiatives commemorate those who have fallen victim to this violence and are the loud voices of those who are fighting back.
In the spirit of »living remembrance«, the Open Trial exhibition focuses on marginalised perspectives – because it is often the stories of the perpetrators of the NSU complex that dominate the media narrative. The exhibition calls for resistance and action. Listening is understood as a political practice and remembering as an open and active process.
The complex events of the NSU trial are made accessible to a wide audience through the exhibits, a methods manual, a multilingual mediation team and a supporting programme on site.
With artistic contributions by:
Želimir Žilnik, Pınar Öğrenci, Nguyễn Thành Phong, Alex Gerbaulet & Mareike Bernien, Hito Steyerl, Imran Ayata & Bülent Kullukcu, Vincent Bababoutilabo, Harun Farocki, belit sağ, Sefa Deterli, Forensic Architecture, socills, SPOTS, Anne König & Nino Bulling, Ulf Aminde, Hannah Zimmermann, Irène Mélix, Theo Threise, Diana Felber, Andrea Fuchs, The Threise, Ülkü Süngün and the ARK collective.
Activist groups/initiatives:
Initiative 12 August, Initiative BREAK THE SILENCE – In memory of Oury Jalloh, Tribunal NSU-Komplex auflösen, Herkesin Meydanı, Projektteam Offener Prozess
Publications:
Anne König and Nino Paula Bulling (Comic Bruchlinien)
The exhibition was created as part of the project »Offener Prozess_NSU – Aufarbeitung in Sachsen« by ASA-FF e. V. under the direction of Hannah Zimmermann and Jörg Buschmann. The curatorial team Ayşe Güleç and Fritz Laszlo Weber developed the artistic, design and curatorial concept for the exhibition on behalf of the Offener Prozess project. Irène Mélix was responsible for the exhibition production and the conception of the web exhibition, while the educational programme and the political education work in the context of the exhibition are based on the concept of Ayşe Güleç, Juliane Phieler and Hannah Zimmermann. Exhibition design and graphics: please don't touch.
Programming and media technology: YNT Studio. Production: Borgmann Ausstellungsbau und Design GmbH. consultant in residence: Sandra Plessing. Layout: Thanh Nguyen Phuong.
Programming: Daria Samokhvalova. Simple language: Anne Goldbach, Lucia Staib, Nico Leonhardt, with support from Beate Schlothauer, Frank Pöschmann, Maria Naumann, Sebastian Wenzel.
Translations: ADD teweS language service. Consulting: neue untend*ckte narrative.
Supported by the Weltoffenes Sachsen funding programme, the European Capital of Culture Chemnitz 2025 and the Dresden Altstadt district office.
With the kind permission of Gateway Real Estate.