Material: aluminum casting/ diamond dust
Location: Floor text inserted across the entrance area, in front of and in between the buildings, including the stairs and the ramp. Lamp sculpture located at the top of the entrance steps, to the left of the ramp

Beacon of Truth is a monument that guides and reflects on German colonial history. It consists of two main elements: a floor text and a sculpture that resembles a 19th century »Old Berlin« street lamp. In the floor installation, the quotations are taken from three sources: 1) German colonial laws, regulations, and events as evidence of the broader colonial project. 2) Voices of resistance, offering passers-by an entry point into a subject that remains obscure in the German public imagination. Special attention will be given to women’s voices. 3) Anti-colonial struggles, printed in a semicontinuous red stripe that outlines the entrance area, indicating significant places and dates during German colonialism. The texts are organized in an open sequence, allowing the viewer to enter at any point.

The choice of materials reflects a decolonial aesthetic through the re-appropriation of material histories. Diamond dust as a byproduct of colonial plunder is the critical element that gives this text its legibility, using highly reflective white glass bead traffic paint and the history of its use in sidewalks across Europe. The 7.5 m lamp uses the material reference of rusted ruins and the poetics of light. Historical lamps are regarded as symbols of modernity and civilization. Borrowing from their traditional aesthetics, the sculpture recomposes motifs from previously existing lamps. The central pole is tilted slightly forward for visual tension. The lamp is transformed into a metaphor of colonial presence, often hidden in plain sight, omnipresent in public space. The central lantern emits RGBA color-spectrum light that can be activated at various intervals as a means of poetic dialogue.

Link to artist page