GERMANY: ARTIST STEPHAN HOFFSTADT IS TRYING TO TURN THE FLAT OF SEPTEMBER 11 HIJACKER MOHAMMED ATTA INTO A POPULAR WORK OF ART

Record ID: 584850

  • Title: GERMANY: ARTIST STEPHAN HOFFSTADT IS TRYING TO TURN THE FLAT OF SEPTEMBER 11 HIJACKER MOHAMMED ATTA INTO A POPULAR WORK OF ART
  • Date: 27th October 2002
  • Summary: (W5) HAMBURG, GERMANY (OCTOBER 25, 2002) (REUTERS) 1. SLV STREET-SIGN MARIENSTRASSE; SLV EXTERIORS OF HOUSE NUMBER 54 (3 SHTOS) 0.18 2. MV HALLWAY INSIDE FLAT; SCU SHOES LEFT OUTSIDE DOOR 0.24 3. SCU POSTER FOR PROJECT MARIENSTRASSE - SPACE CLEARING; SLV ROOM; SLV KITCHEN; SLV FROM WINDOW; MV PAN ACROSS TELEVISION SETS AND THERMOS FLASKS IN KITCHEN; SCU FILM-PROJECTOR (4 SHOTS) 0.47 4. SLV PAN ACROSS EMPTY ROOM TO PAINTED SHADOWS ON WALL 0.59 5. SLV/SCU ARTIST KATRIN GLANZ PAINTING SHADOWS OF PEOPLE ON WALL (4 SHOTS) 1.22 6. MV ARTIST STEPHAN HOFFSTEDT WALKS DOWN THE HALL INTO THE KITCHEN 1.31 7. SOUNDBITE (German) ARTIST STEPHAN HOFFSTEDT, SAYING "All the residents here have been affected by the media coverage. This perfectly normal place with perfectly normal people and perfectly normal houses became a symbol of international terrorism, and that's a shock. Its a shock which symbolises itself in this empty flat. The longer this flat stays empty, the more it becomes a symbol, a sort of open wound. If we can open this flat, we can contribute with our minimised way of handling the events here to breathing life into this flat. Its functional architecture." 2.33 8. MV HOFFSTADT IN INTERVIEW 2.36 9. SLV/SCU/MV ACTRESS VERENA TURBA, SITTING ON FLOOR RECITING POETRY ABOUT HER MEMORIES OF ROOMS 2.58 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 11th November 2002 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: HAMBURG, GERMANY
  • Country: Germany
  • Reuters ID: LVA6UIXT3E9G2GNOYCT09DGQO58T
  • Story Text: A German artist is trying to turn the infamous flat of
    Mohammed Atta, said to have piloted the first hijacked plane
    to hit the World Trade Center, into a popular work of art.

    A German performance artist has opened a temporary
    exhibition in an apartment in Hamburg on Friday (October 25),
    which was the base for an al Qaeda cell believed to be behind
    the September 11 attacks on U.S. cities.

    The Berlin-based artist, Stephan Hoffstadt, said his aim
    was to bring normality back to the Marienstrasse 54 flat in
    southern Hamburg which has been unoccupied since the attacks.

    "Everyone has been affected, but its a perfectly normal
    area with regular people. The longer this flat stays empty
    the longer it will remain an open wound. We want to open it
    and bring it back to life," Hoffstadt told Reuters TV.

    The first floor flat housed Mohammed Atta, the man U.S.

    authorities said piloted the first hijacked plane to hit the
    World Trade Center, as well as other suspected members of the
    extremist cell he led.

    The landlord has been unable to find anyone willing to pay
    the 500 euros monthly rent in the now notorious four-room
    flat.

    Hoffstadt's Marienstrasse 54 space cleaning project
    features video displays of normal life in the area and shadows
    of onlookers painted on the wall.

    A court in the northern port city launched the trial of a
    Moroccan man on Tuesday, the first such proceedings against an
    alleged September 11 plotter. Mounir El Motassadeq, charged
    with aiding and abetting 3,045 murders, lived round the corner
    from Marienstrasse 54.


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