Nägel
Sonya Schönberger
07.03. – 18.04.2025   
St. Matthäus-Kirche

»Can the dead redeem the living? Can the past help the present?«

The Human Acts, 2014, Han Kang

Marking the 80th anniversary of the end of WWII, Sonya Schönberger transforms the altar space of St. Matthäus-Kirche into a sensory field of 13,000 rusty nails. Recovered from a former forced labor camp at Tempelhofer Feld, these artifacts serve as the final witnesses to a disappearing generation.

The installation demands physical participation: as visitors walk across the floor, the sound of metal and the grinding of rust underfoot turn memory into a visceral experience. The red dust of the past is literally carried out on the soles of the living, blurring the lines between historical preservation and modern-day responsibility.

Accompanied by video "portraits" that treat each bent nail as an individual biography of suffering, the exhibition echoes the questions posed by Nobel laureate Han Kang:
Can the dead redeem the living? Can the past help the present?