Where Were You on May 6, 2006? / Wo warst du am 6. Mai 2006? / 6 Mayıs 2006'te neredeydin? was produced within the framework of SPOTS. The video is based on footage recorded by Sefa Defterli during the demonstration “No 10th Victim,” held on May 6, 2006 in Cologne.
The protest took place shortly after the ninth murder committed by the National Socialist Underground (NSU), when Halit Yozgat was killed. At a time when the broader public narrative still obscured the racist motivations behind the crimes, the organizers and speakers at the demonstration articulated a clear political analysis. They situated the murders within a structural context of racism and right-wing violence – years before the NSU’s self-disclosure in 2011.
In collaboration with Ömer Şamlı, I interwove the speeches of family members of Halit Yozgat whose clarity, political insight, and appeal for solidarity remain striking. Through the deliberate reversal and repetition of the video reel, the work stages a mediated grappling with collective memory and retrospective knowledge. The temporal shifts emphasize both the persistence of unanswered questions and the painful process of recognition that unfolded only years later.
- installation
- intervention
- 2.4'
- Germany
- DE/TR with German and Turkish subtitles
- HI8 to HD
- 16:9
- 2017
Video
Statement
SPOTS are short audiovisual interventions addressing different facets of the NSU complex. They were created to mobilize for the tribunal “NSU-Komplex Auflösen” (Unraveling the NSU Complex), held May 17–21, 2017 in Cologne. The tribunal focused on the many unresolved questions surrounding the NSU murders and sought to indict institutional and everyday racism in Germany, foregrounding the situated knowledge of immigrant communities targeted by Nazi terror.
The term “NSU complex” refers to the entanglement of right-wing terrorism, structural racism, and state involvement. Between 1999 and 2007, nine immigrants and one police officer were murdered in Germany, and multiple bomb attacks injured dozens. The crimes were only officially linked to the so-called National Socialist Underground (NSU) after its self-exposure in 2011. Significant questions remain, particularly regarding the broader neo-Nazi network and the role of the domestic intelligence service (Verfassungsschutz), which maintained informants in the perpetrators’ environment.
SPOTS respond to these so-called blind spots. They highlight the racist conditions that enabled the crimes and challenge perpetrator-centered media narratives. Conceiving aesthetics as political practice, they shift visibility toward resistance, accusation, and critical inquiry, with the aim of stimulating sustained public debate. Since spring 2017, SPOTS have been presented in cinemas, exhibitions, public programs, online formats, and other contexts in Germany and internationally.
Stills
Credits
- Original material: Sefa Defterli
- Concept and editing: Kornelia Kugler
- Translation and advice: Ömer Şamlı
- Production: SPOTS
Festivals & Screenings
- EXHIBITIONS
- Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt
- documenta 14, Kassel
- Forum Expanded Ausstellung, Berlinale
- Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin
- Studio for Artistic Research, Düsseldorf
- SAVVY Contemporary Berlin
- M1 Hohenlockstedt
- Heimathafen Neukölln
- The Ludlow 38, New York
- Museum Villa Stuck, München
- Heidelberger Kunstverein
- Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum, Köln
- Kunsthaus Dresden
- FESTIVALS & SCREENINGS
- Internationale Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen
- dokumentarfilmwoche Hamburg
- L´Alternativa Barcelona
- Dokfilmfest Kassel
- Ethnocineca Wien
- Villa Leon, Nürnberg
- Stuttgarter Filmwinter
- goEast-festival, Wiesbaden
- Kollektiv Filmreihe Köln
- Antirassistischer Streiktag 8. Mai, Berlin
- Antirassistisches Sommerkino, Köln
- Filmfest Dresden
- Kein Schlussstrich, Zwickau
- dfi-Symposium PROZESSIEREN, Köln
- MOVIE THEATRES
- Kino Babylon Kreuzberg, Berlin
- Capitol Dahlem, Berlin
- Cinema Paris, Berlin
- Delphi Filmpalast, Berlin
- Filmtheater Friedrichshain, Berlin
- Kant Kino, Berlin
- Kino International, Berlin
- Neues Off, Berlin
- Odeon, Berlin
- Passage, Berlin
- Rollberg, Berlin
- York Kreuzberg, Berlin
- Kino FSK, Berlin
- Bambikino, Düsseldorf
- Mal Seh´n, Frankfurt
- B-Movie Hamburg
- Filmladen, Kassel
- Bali, Kassel
- Gloria, Kassel
- Luru Kino, Leipzig
- Werkstattkino München
- Filmhaus Nürnberg
- Cinema & Kurbelkiste Münster
as at November 2024
Behind the Scenes
