Stadtkuratorin Leipzig

Projects

Plurales Erinnern

10.09. – 30.04.2027

Richard-Wagner-Hain Jahnallee 59 04109 Leipzig

Chor Kontra Monument

Live Performance and Musical Audio Walk by Frederike Moormann

Plurales Erinnern

Plural memory

Close-up of a wall painted with graffiti in yellow, black, and gray with visible joints and additional scribbles

Aerial view of a rectangular swimming pool with surrounding paths, trees, and adjacent forest area

Overgrown area with fallen leaves, bushes, scaffolding, and a concrete wall covered in graffiti

Model of the planned Richard-Wagner National Monument in the proposed angular Richard-Wagner-Hain at the Elster Basin, near the Zeppelin Bridge

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Model of the planned Richard-Wagner National Monument in the proposed angular Richard-Wagner-Hain at the Elster Basin, near the Zeppelin Bridge

Live Performance: September 10 & 12, 2026
Audio Walk: April 2027

In the audio walk Chor Kontra Monument, the audience is guided by a choir through the state park Richard-Wagner-Hain, in Leipzig. It was there in 1934 that Reich Chancellor Adolf Hitler laid the cornerstone for a Wagner monument that was never completed.

Through this audio walk, artist Frederike Moormann explores, on the one hand, the historical layers of the grove—from the Weimar Republic through National Socialism and the GDR to the present day. On the other hand, she engages with the musical work of Richard Wagner, whose own anti-Semitic writings, nationalist public appearances, and musical themes strongly resonated with the ideologies of the National Socialist regime.

Through this audio walk and a choral concert that deconstructs and samples Wagner’s musical motifs, the historical layers of the grove become navigable and Wagner’s nationalist musical lessons become audible. Chor Kontra Monument asks what it means to enter and walk through a place with this history and this name, and poses the question: What was built here, and for whom?

Chor Kontra Monument* will have its world premiere on 10 and 12 September 2026 as a live performance using wireless headphones; an intervention will follow to mark the partial refurbishment of the eastern section of the Richard Wagner Grove on 23 September 2026. From January 2027, once the renovation work is complete, the audio walk will be permanently accessible via a QR code on users’ own smartphones.

Frederike Moormann in collaboration with Nora Benamara, Maximilian Bischofberger, Felix Deufel, Chara Giannou, Helgard Haug, Hauptmeier | Recker, Julia Kurz, Lefteris Krysalis, Marie-Louise Monrad-Møller, and Walburga Walde

Plurales Erinnern

Plural memory

About the Artist: Frederike Moormann is a radio and sound artist. She lives and works in Leipzig and Weimar. Her site-specific practice combines archival research, vocal experiments, and radio transmissions. The collaborative audio walk “Space has become a crowded place” (Theater RAMPE, Project Room Namibia, Funkstation Nauen/Brandenburg Museum, Deutschlandfunk Kultur) explores colonial history, trauma, and communication infrastructures. Her audio walk “Und gegenüber spielt die Blaskapelle” won the Audiowalk Award in 2024. Since 2020, she has been an artistic associate at the Experimental Radio department of the Bauhaus University Weimar.

Chor Kontra Monument kicks off the “Kunst zum Richard-Wagner-Hain” series, which will be realized in 2027 by “Stadtkuratorin Leipzig”—the City of Leipzig’s program for art in public spaces—and the Office for Urban Greenery and Waterways, in cooperation with Freiraumkonzepte Landscape Architects. The project is funded by Musikfonds e.V. and the City of Leipzig’s Department of Culture, and is supported by Hörspielsommer Leipzig.