Florian Grond and Piet Devos

To commemorate the victims of the Nazi terror, the ‘Stolpersteine’ [literally: ‘stumbling stones’] are laid at the place of a person’s last residency. In this case, the Stolperstein is dedicated to the Jewish deaf-blind poet Irene Ransburg (1898-1944), who spent an important part of her life at the Odilien Institute. Denounced by another resident of the Institute, Irene was arrested by the Gestapo on 21 September 1944. She was then deported to Theresienstadt, and later on to Auschwitz-Birkenau, where she was killed on 23 October 1944.

 Piet Devos and Florian Grond turned the video and sound footage of their visit to Irene Ransburg’s Stolperstein into a performance. First and foremost, ‘Performing the Monument’ aims to honor Irene Ransburg’s memory and recall her tragic fate in the hands of an atrocious regime. But, from a disability perspective, ‘Performing the Monument’ also raises questions about the legibility, accessibility and context of places of commemoration. For example, to what extent do such places presuppose an able-bodied audience? Or, which media do we need to make acts of commemoration more inclusive?”