Alternative Monument for Germany / Alternatives Denkmal für Deutschland

ADfD proposes a counter-narrative to Germany’s toxic migration discourse by reclaiming public memory culture as a site for inclusion, resistance, and collective imagination. In direct opposition to right-wing populist rhetoric, such as that of the AfD (Alternative für Deutschland), ADfD offers an alternative: a vision of migration as a force that weaves spaces and histories into an evolving, collective fabric. Through a queer-feminist lens—foregrounding voices long silenced in the public sphere—the project explores the transformative potential of migration to reframe urban spaces and communal memory.

Central to this inquiry are pressing questions: What forms might a monument to migration take? How can migration memories be shared, preserved, and made visible? What role can collective processes and emerging digital formats play in expanding public remembrance culture?

In response, ADfD embarks on a community-driven search for traces of migration memory, developing a new kind of monument that merges digital and urban space. Anchored in citizens’ meetings at the Spore Initiative in Neukölln and beyond, this participatory process creates opportunities for shared storytelling and collaborative visualizations. Through a series of audio-visual artistic interventions, the project connects testimonies, migration histories, and subjective experiences into poetic and subversive representations of our shared urban landscape.

As part of the AR-based monument’s creation, renowned cultural workers engage the public through lectures, discussions, artistic workshops, and performances—shaping a monument that does not merely commemorate but actively envisions new, inclusive spaces of memory.

The project has been presented e.g. at the Berlinale Forum Expanded, Spore Initiative, Berlin Art Week at Gropius Bau, and has received supported by the Hauptstadtkulturfonds and Projektfonds Kulturelle Bildung.
www.adfd.info