Thomas Stratmann

Department: Information Design
Website: www.thomasstratmann.de

THE ARSON ARCHIVE

WHAT
A record of arson attacks against refugee and immigrant accommodations since the reunification of Germany in 1990.

WHY
Germans pride themselves on having confronted the horrors of the Third Reich, but fail to face the rise of right-wing extremist culture in recent decades, Thomas Stratmann finds. By confronting people with the ugly effects of growing nationalism and xenophobia, he aims to show that the need to protect against violence is as urgent today as ever.

HOW
Burnt scale models represent the buildings attacked to translate abstract numbers into a visual reality. They give a physical presence to a heritage of hatred that is spreading in society and the parliamentary system.

QUOTE
Recognising the historical parallels.