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exp. 1
exp. 2
exp. 3
Documentation
exp. 3: Affect Archives. Sinthujan Varatharajah – Osías Yanov
Sinthujan Varatharajah: how to move an arche
Exhibition views, wall texts, audio and video material
For exp. 3, researcher, essayist, and political geographer Sinthujan Varatharajah looks critically into the aftermath of the 1983 anti-Tamil pogroms and riots in Sri Lanka—and the wars and genocide that followed. These led hundreds of thousands of Tamils into exile. For those who emigrated to Europe, divided Berlin was their personal entry point. At the time, the Berlin Wall played a little-known role as a permeable gateway, a transit point used as a loophole of survival for many then “Third World” refugees. A special agreement between East and West Germany enabled refugees to enter through East Germany to settle in the West. In the 1980s, the political cracks in the walls of partitioned Germany became a lifeline of survival for the Tamil. This specific history of the Wall is the point of departure for Varatharajah’s investigations into physical and cultural borders and the memories of displacement of this community. Gathered in the exhibition space at the architectural complex at ExRotaprint are different traces of these transit routes, such as oral histories, newspaper clippings, photographs, maps, and other collected materials. Together they form a living archive reflecting on issues of encampment, statelessness, and spatial power, bringing forth a displaced people and their untold stories.
Wall texts (English, German, Tamil)
All audio material consists of excerpts from interviews with Eelam Tamils living in Germany, commented on and realized by Sinthujan Varatharajah:
Audio: Schönefeld Airport (German and Tamil)
Audio: Friedrichstraße (German and Tamil)
Audio: Zoologischer Garten (German and Tamil)
Audio: Life in camps for Eelam-Tamil refugees (German and Tamil)
Talk by Sinthujan Varatharajah with Duygu Örs, 28.2.2020:
Video: how to move an arche
For more information on the work of Sinthujan Varatharajah see @varathas
Photos: Mathias Völzke
Thanks to:
Umut Aydın, Till Gathmann, Jeyasangar Gopalapillai, Jakob Jakobsen, Ponniah Karunaharmoorthy, Ranjini Karunaharmoorthy, Sinduja Krishnakumaran, Abinaya Kumarakuranathan, Elif Küçük, Nadarajah Mathivathanasekaram, Prashanthy Mathivathanasekaram, Ram Paramanathan, Bruntha Puvaneswaran, Krishanthy Puvaneswaran, Selvaratnam Puvaneswaran, Yanantha Puvaneswaran, Tanasgol Sabbagh, Dama Sathianathan, Rathy Sriskandarajah, Yogarajah Sriskandarajah, Ralph Tharayil, Maharaj Varatharajah, Senthuran Varatharajah, Shanthynee Varatharajah, Sinnadurai Varatharajah & Garunya Wieczorek
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