What mechanisms determine the visibility or invisibility of violence? In what contexts is violence documented, instrumentalized, or censorded – and how can it be studied academically?
These questions form the basis of the TraCe Working Paper No. 6 in cooperation with KUNSTHALLE GIESSEN. The Working Paper is the result of collaboration within the exhibition of the same name “(In)Visibility of Violence” at KUNSTHALLE GIESSEN. It brings together ten contributions from TraCe researchers and Kunsthalle director Nadia Ismail. While some of the contributions take up themes from the exhibition, others expand on the artistically explored topics through empirical and theoretical reflections or geographical focuses. In their stylistic and content-related diversity, the texts reflect the interdisciplinarity of the participants.
In the introduction, Larissa-Diana Fuhrmann (PRIF) and Tina Cramer (PRIF) first introduce the topic of the working paper and the themes of the contributions. The first contribution by Laura Guntrum (TU Darmstadt), Verena Lasso Mena (TU Darmstadt), and Jonas Wolff (Goethe University Frankfurt) deals with often invisible violence against social activists. The second contribution by Regine Schwab (PRIF) addresses bureaucratic violence using the example of systematic expropriations through laws and decrees by the Syrian Assad regime.
In the following contribution, Hannah Ahlheim (Justus Liebig University Giessen) traces the history and development of the concept of trauma since 1945 based on the life stories of two Holocaust survivors and their descendants. In her chapter KUNSTHALLE GIESSEN's director Nadia Ismail also addresses trauma and discusses its artistic treatment in contemporary art.
In her article, Sabine Mannitz (PRIF) examines violence against indigenous women and girls in Canada and shows how artistic interventions in public space create visibility. Sara-Luise Spittler (TU Darmstadt) analyzes the protest culture of the so-called Freiburg housing struggle on the basis of a protest poster from 1978.
Larissa-Diana Fuhrmann (PRIF) addresses the media invisibility of state violence in Sudan and highlights attempts by artists to counteract this. Thilo Marauhn (Justus Liebig University Giessen) focuses on violence against soldiers in war and uses this to discuss the legitimization of certain forms of violence. Finally, Anika Oettler (Philipps University of Marburg) discusses how violence is made visible in an unusual way in a military museum in Bogotá, questioning the usual juxtaposition of victims and perpetrators.
The working paper is available for download (PDF) in German language. A detailed journal will also be published to accompany the exhibition, providing further insight into the exhibition themes (available in German and English).
The free entry exhibitio “(In)visibility of Violence” opens on August 22, 2025, and can be visited at KUNSTHALLE GIESSEN until November 2, 2025. There is also a varied accompanying program for the exhibition.