OTHER
MONUMENTS
The "Other Monuments" project is an interactive walking route created with the contribution of marginalized groups and individuals in the Marzahn district. The event will start with group tours on 28-29 January and the route will be experienced for 1 month in the Berlin city.
Other Monuments project offers interactive walking routes where the city memory and history are brought to light. The routes spread throughout the Marzhan/Mitte region are based on historical stories as well as the personal memories of the disabled, displaced, exiled and immigrant people living in the neighbourhood. The project, which creates "personal monuments" by bringing the city memories of immigrants into public spaces, archives and protects the valuable stories of how the city and the region is experienced by marginalised individuals. The content and location of these memories determines the direction of the walking path.
Emphasizing belonging and renewing the immigrant's bond with the city by creating a personal monument to everyone, the project aims to create an archive of memories. Offering the opportunity to experience the Marzahn-Mitte through the eyes of the unprivileged individuals living in the region, the project provides a temporary monument in the city for not only to historical figures, but also to everyone who sees Berlin as their home.
 |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|
 |  |  |  |
 |  |  |  |
 |  |  |  |
 |  |  |  |
 |
Photo: ©Jacopo La Forgia for Berlin Mondiale.
Diren Demir
Project Leader
direndemir.art
othermonuments.info@gmail.com
Berlin | Germany
Diren Demir (Istanbul, 1997) is an interdisciplinary artist and independent curator from Istanbul. Demir’s work seeks transformative solutions to the challenges posed by toxic masculine culture. Demir’s installations and performances frequently deal with revelation and the body-power relationship as a site of conflict. Demir focuses on transformational activism, participatory practices and developing new models of resistance in their artworks. In addition to queer-themed works, in which the “pure existence” of their own body is used to break down stereotypical gender positions, Demir also aims to de-gender memories of place and the city by referring to LGBTIQ+ history in their articles, seminars and workshops. In 2018, they translated the compilation “S.T.A.R.” into Turkish. In 2019, their compilation titled “A Night of June: A Biographical Analysis of the Stonewall Revolution” was published. In August 2022, their new poetry and illustration book “Hail to the Fallen” took its place in bookstores. Demir has curated more than 30 guerrilla exhibitions on streets and rural areas, putting the accessibility of art at the forefront, as well as in places such as the Akbank Art and Gazhane Museum. Their works and projects exhibited in many different countries such as Estonia, Turkey, Serbia, Netherlands, Germany, India…
