Tent: IN DER FREIHAND. An installation by Eva Olthof (DAI, 2011). Where is history ‘created’?

| tag: Rotterdam

Where is history ‘created’? Inspired by this question Eva Olthof has worked since 2010 on projects in which she researches certain events or locations through testimonials and documentation.

She collects fragments, such as her personal photos, archive material, texts and objects, searching for the boundaries between the documentary and imaginary image. Olthof will present an installation at TENT in which her new publication Return to Rightful Owner plays a central role. The politics of forgetting, remembering and citing, is the central theme to the book, which takes the origination of the Amerika-Gedenkblibliothek in Berlin as its starting point. This public academic library was built in 1954 and was modeled after the ‘Public Library’ as a gift from the American people to the population of West-Berlin. Its modern architecture made it an emblem for the ‘American way of life’. Purposely located close to the border of Russian occupied territory, the library also had the goal of attracting East-Berlin citizens.

The opening takes place on Friday May 1st at 18:00 hrs.