PAST PRESENT TENSE

HD Video / Color & Sound / German with English Subtitles / 32.00 min,  2015

Past Present Tense is a video work that examines the question of German identity and its relationship to racism of the past and present day. Through various interviews the viewer observes social and political transitions in Germany - the GDR, Post-reunification and the pogroms starting in Rostock, and contemporary Germany society.

The work seeks to redefine social positions and identities within the framework of intimate dialogs that challenge the status quo on how to define not only German identity but geopolitics in the context of white Europe. As such, the audience is posed with questions on what are the responsibilities of dealing with colonial pasts and how do we reflect on dominant ideologies and discourse in a time of constant mobility and global shifts?

In a time of cultural amnesia, recalling the past and the retelling of memories is becoming more and more under-rated in a time when forgetting is common practice. Through telling interviews that discuss the perspectives of Germans of minority descent, the film highlights many of the experiences and opinions that are otherwise unheard and unseen within our shared public space.

It thus asks the audience to realign their perception of class, race and privilege that run alongside labels that ultimately offer a limited scope on the complexity of identity politics rooted in colonial exclusionary traditions.