Eduard Freudmann’s intervention at Graz’s Befreiungsdenkmal aims to shift the confusing narratives around the commemoration of the departure of Allied occupation forces in 1955, the celebration of the country’s neutrality, and the myth of its victimhood at the hands of the Nazis. Freudmann challenges these conceptions by temporarily transforming the monument. In his rendition it becomes an obelisk, a form typically commemorating victory but one that is now colored pink to demilitarize and queer its martial allusions. The inscription ÖDUOPFER, meaning “Österreich, you victim,” references the colloquial use of the term as an insult among teenagers. Here it refers to the misplaced Austrian sense of victimhood after World War II. The obelisk is juxtaposed with lettering floating on the nearby pond, composing a fragile countermonument dedicated to the liberation from National Socialism.

Eduard Freudmann (1979, Vienna) is an artist who makes installations, interventions in public space, and performances. A frequent focus of his works is the politics of memory, in particular of the Holocaust, and their articulation through family histories, which he illuminates with a transdisciplinary, research-based approach. Freudmann lives in Vienna.