Judith Siegmund — To Remember Is to Forget. To Forget Is to Remember / Erinnern ist Vergessen. Vergessen ist Erinnern

(ISBN-10: 3333333333 / ISBN-13: 978-3333333335) Judith Siegmund's art exhibition of the same name at the Kunstverein Rostock ran from 26 April to 6 June 2012. The catalog is perhaps the second or third I've done for the artist, whom I first met in 1994 when we were both artists-in-residence at Schloss Plüschow. The catalog, like the exhibition, was based around the photo documentation of the now of the area of Rostock in which she grew up juxtaposed with texts of her memories. The catalog included an additional text by Ilina Koralova, which naturally I also translated.
Below is an example of the typical, short texts by Judith Siegmund found in the catalog — the translation (above) as well the original (below) — and the corresponding photograph.

On Gruben Street, railway tracks went down the middle of the road. At night I was often confronted by an endless stream of freight cars that passed by at walking speed or were even simply at a standstill. I often climbed up onto the platforms between the wagons so as to even get to the other side of the street. When I was there alone with an endless line of military trucks and tanks, it was spooky. I pondered over where they came from and where they were probably being shipped. Because we were never given any information about that, a vague and uncertain sense of menace arose.

In der Grubenstraße lagen Bahnschienen mitten auf der Straße. Ich stand nachts oft vor endlos langen Schlangen von Güterzügen, die im Schrittempo fuhren oder gar stehen blieben. Oft kletterte ich auf die Plattform zwischen zwei Waggons, um überhaupt über die Straße zu kommen. Gespenstisch war es, wenn ich mit einer endlosen Reihe von Militärlastkraftwagen und Panzern allein war. Ich überlegte, woher sie kamen und wohin sie wohl eingeschifft werden. Da wir keine Informationen darüber bekamen, stellte sich das Gefühl einer vagen unklaren Bedrohung ein.