01.06.2023

Text & sound installation in public space 2-channel audio (3 pieces between 11:00 and18:00min (loop)), loudspeaker, street paint,information board
gedenk_potenziale, art in public space, Innsbruck, 05.05 - 09.11.2023

Üb’ immer Treu’ und Redlichkeit? (Always Be True and Faithful) is a text and sound inter- vention that marks four perpetrator sites of Nazi repression in Innsbruck. The four sites are: Herrengasse 1 (Secret State Police, State Police Station), Schmerlingstraße 1 (Higher Regional Court, Regional Court, Prison House), Südtiroler Platz 14-16 (Police Head- quarters, Criminal Police, Police Prison) and the Gestapo camp complex in the Reichenau. The selected sites are memorials and testi- monies, sites of victims and perpetrators, and thus particularly suitable for reporting on the events of Nazi terror in their entirety. In addi- tion to a lack of awareness of their relevance in the Nazi era, these sites are united by an insufficient or insensitive contextualisation.

To mark these places, the text line “Üb’ immer Treu’ und Redlichkeit”, extended by a question mark, is painted on the floor. The line originates from the poem Der alte Landmann an seinen Sohn (1776) by Ludwig Hölty. The scoring of this text, based on a melody from Mozart’s opera The Magic Flute, achieved great fame as a folk song. The melody later found a new use in Nazi radio from 1933 onwards as a radio jingle.

In order to react to the seemingly harm- less and apolitical national self-portrayal, the British black propaganda radio station Gustav-Siegfried-Eins decided on a provoca- tive musical response. What could be heard was the likewise instrumental second line of the same folk song, the lyrics of which read “... bis an dein kühles Grab” (...,till your cold grave). As an acoustic counterpart to the painted text on the floor, the signature tune of Gustav-Siegfried-One is played back on site. Accompanying a collage of witness reports and interrogations of perpetrators from the post-war justice system as well as docu- ments from the Nazi era can be heard. These reports provide an insight into the extent and horror of the Nazi state.

Project website: https://treuundredlichkeit.at