In 1999, a year after the death of her mother Sylvia in London, and after long consideration, and family discussion, in which the London Leo Baeck Institute, a Jewish archive, was also thought to be an appropriate location to house the personal effects of the Ury/Unger archive, Tanya Ury entrusted the family archive to the Historical Archives in Cologne, Germany, where she has been living since 1993 and which was the hometown for many family members of previous generations; it was to be a gesture of reconciliation and trust towards Germany, to return these documents, letters, photographs and other objects from several generations of this German-Jewish family of artists and business people, who had experienced persecution, annihilation or exile at the hands of the Nazis.
The fall of the Historical Archives in Cologne still remains unexplained but is probably due to earth movement resulting from underground building works in the vicinity of the new North-South-Tramline. The collapse awakens memories of a monumental historical catastrophe.
Archive – a collection of works
Presentation
2009 (19.11) Fury, a delegated performance video (filmed 3.10) on the collapse of the Historical Archives in Cologne for Tanja Ostojic’s project “Misplaced Women”, online at White Box during “Performa”, The Third Biennial of New Visual Art Performance, New York City (1 – 22.11.2009) (USA) Link to long & short version: vimeo.com/7662688 (Adobe flash player update free under google)
2010 (19−22.8) Installation of the Video-Performance Fury, solo exhibition opening 7pm, 19th August, at kjubh KUNSTVEREIN (Art Centre), Dassel Strasse 75, Cologne (D) www.kjubh.de/pages/akt…
2011 (18.3. – 26.6) Installation of the Video-Performance Fury, group exhibition “Kunst und Gedenken. Kölner Künstler/innen mit Arbeiten zur Auseinandersetzung mit dem Nationalsozialismus” (Art and Remembering. Cologne Artists with Art concerning National Socialism), opening: 17th March, EL-DE-Haus, National Socialist Documentation Centre, Cologne (D) www.museenkoeln.de/hom…
2011 (2.8.) Presentation of Tanya Ury’s Video-Performance Fury, 8 pm, curator Jürgen Stollhans, Fritz-Schramma-Halle, Auenweg 173 GEB 6, 51063, Cologne (D)
INTERNET
2012 (13.2) Presentation of Tanya Ury’s Video-Performance Fury, “out of the blue- plötzlich wird alles anders”, 6.15 pm, Director’s Lounge, Naherholung Sternchen, Berolinastraße 7, 10178, Berlin (D)
laborberlin.wordpress.…
Festivals Etc.
2009 (16.8) “Trapped” Cologne authors, priests and politicians on the collapse of the City Archives, 3 pm Basilika St. Severin, Im Ferkulum 29, 50678 Cologne (D): Tanya Ury: The souls of my dead relatives. The Loss of the Ury/Unger family estate. 4.30 pm Severingstorburg, Chlodwigplatz 2, 50677 Köln: Tanya Ury: reading from Alfred H. Unger’s The Story of the Great Nazarene (1926) http://www.koeln-journal.de/index/seite/Aktuelles/artikel/4630822/dokument/4630821/datei/grossebenefizveranstaltungfuerhistorischesarchiv.html
2009 (24.8) Action: Köln Kann Auch Anders (Cologne can do it better), 6 pm, Tanya Ury reading (20 minutes) in front of the Cologne Town Hall, on the collapse of the City Archives – The Souls of my Dead Relatives. The Loss of the Ury-Unger family archive, Cologne (D)
www.koelnkannauchander…
insidecologne.de/de/ku…
2009 (10.12) The Souls of my dead relatives. The Jewish Family estate Ury-Unger – lost in the City Archives, in the series “Jewish Impressions”, solo power-point-presentation: Gewissen (Conscience), 7 pm, EL-DE-Haus, Nazi Documentation Centre, Cologne (D)
2010 (3.3) Tanya Ury: presentation of “The Souls of my dead relatives”. The Loss of the Jewish Ury/Unger family estate. – lost in the City Archives. Reading: Gewissen (Conscience), “Rubble and Shame” – A year after the Collapse of the Historical Archives. KÖLN KANN AUCH ANDERS (Cologne can do better), Aura 09 & Kölner Komment (Cologne Comments), 7.30 pm Odeon Cinema, Severin Street 81, Cologne (D)
Publications & Press
2009 (19.3) Tanya Ury, radio interview with Annette Hager, 6.08 – 8 pm, Resonanzen WDR 3, on the collapse of the Historisches Archiv (Historical Archives) Cologne (D) www.wdr.de/themen/glob…
2009 (18.7) Television interview (recorded 15.6) with Achim Zeilmann of Aspekte ZDF “Hilfeschreie aus Papier” (Paper Cries for Help), (repeated on days following): report on the collapse of the Historisches Archiv (Historical Archives) Cologne (D)
2009 (28.8) Television interview with Theo Roos, 7.20 pm, Kulturzeit – Köln Reloaded, 3 Sat, report on the collapse of the Historisches Archiv (Historical Archives) Cologne (D)
archiv.twoday.net/topi…
wstreaming.zdf.de/3sat…
www.3sat.de/dynamic/si…
2009 (6.10) Article by Helga Humbach, on the Aura event (16.8.): “Trapped” Tanya Ury and Cologne authors, priests and politicians on the collapse of the City Archives, in ver.di-Zeitschrift Kunst & Kultur (Art & Culture Magazine), Cologne (D)
2011 (17.3.) Schwierige Deutschstunde (Difficult German Lessons) — „Kunst und Gedenken“ (Art and Remembering): Vielschichtige Schau im NS-Dokumentationszentrum (Multi-Layerd Show in the National Socialist Documentation Centre), Katharina Hamacher, Kölnische Rundschau (newspaper), Cologne (D)
2011 (17.3.) Kölner Künstler setzen sich mit dem Nationalsozialismus auseinander (Cologne Artists Deal with National Socialism), Domstadt Kultur Kunststadt Köln www.koeln.de/koeln/koe… (D)
2011 (17.3.) „Es war, als wäre meine Familie ein zweite Mal ausgerottet worden“ (It was as though my family were wiped out a second time), report‑k.de, Kölns Internetzeitung www.report‑k.de/conten…
2011 (17.3.) „Tanya Ury brachte einen Koffer nach Köln (Tanya Ury brought a suitcase to Cologne), Köln Nachrichten – Das Online-Nachrichtenmagazin für Köln (Cologne’s online News Magazine (D)
Artist’s Writings & Publications
2009 (22.4) “Cologne’s Conscience” (German), article on the collapse of the Historisches Archiv (Historical Archives) by Ury in the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger (Cologne City Advertiser) (D): „Guten Morgen Köln!“ (Good morning Cologne!) online 22nd April from 9 am
www.ksta.de/html/artik…
2009 (25.5) “Conscience 2” (German), 2nd article on the collapse of the Historisches Archiv (Historical Archives) by Ury in the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger (Cologne City Advertiser) (D): „Guten Morgen Köln!“ (Good morning Cologne!) online 25th May from 9 am http://www.ksta.de/html/artikel/1239772090094.shtml
2009 (16.7) “Conscience 3” (German), 3rd article (shortened version) on the collapse of the Historisches Archiv (Historical Archives) by Ury in the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger (Cologne City Advertiser) (D): „Guten Morgen Köln!“ (Good morning Cologne!) online from ca. 9 am under the news heading: http://www.ksta.de/html/seiten/1218146538604/
also: www.ksta.de/html/artik…
2009 (12.8) “Conscience 4” (German), 4th article on the collapse of the Historisches Archiv (Historical Archives) by Ury in the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger (Cologne City Advertiser) (D): „Guten Morgen Köln!“ (Good morning Cologne!) online from ca. 9 am under the news heading: www.ksta.de/gutenmorgen
www.ksta.de/html/artik…
2009 (25.8) “Conscience” articles on the collapse of the Historisches Archiv (Historical Archives) by Ury, on the website “Köln kann auch anders” (Cologne can do better) (D)
www.koelnkannauchander…
2014 (3.5) Interview (22:18 minutes on 18th April) with Tanya Ury by Brigitte Lang and Rebecca Mann, on the installation Who’s Boss: Hair Shirt Army in the Nazi Documentation Centre, Cologne, including extracts of Ury’s concert performance archive burn out, with Suspended Beliefs: Tanya Ury (text/voice), Gernot Bogumil (trumpet), Kasander Nilist (double bass), Hans Salz (percussion)), online on Alleweltonair (D) (All the World on air) as podcast – “can’t dance without my shadow” www.alleweltonair.de/t…
2014 (9) Interview with Tanya Ury by Verena Krippner, including extracts of Ury’s concert performance archive burn out, with Suspended Beliefs: Tanya Ury (text/voice), Gernot Bogumil (trumpet), Kasander Nilist (double bass), Hans Salz (percussion), online at this link: fishingforemotions.de/ (D)