Engelin der Geschichte · Haim Sokol

The work

Engelin der Geschichte is a wordless performative monument built around a feminine Angel of History. Wearing a burgundy velvet dress from the artist's mother's wardrobe and long wings made from floor cloths, the figure performs prolonged domestic tasks: washing, sewing, carrying water, rocking a leaking bag of cement like a child.

The actions take place around a wooden triumphal arch built from found materials and conceived as a cage for dead birds. Together with a carpet partly covered in concrete, the arch and the performer form a single monument to mourning, confession and repentance.

The work develops Walter Benjamin's Angel of History through the artist's response to war, displacement and the destruction of civilian life. The triumphal arch — based on the proportions of the Arch of Titus — is reversed from a monument to victory into a structure containing traumatic memory. Everyday acts of care become repetitive rituals performed among the debris of political history.

The festival

Emigration to the Future was an interdisciplinary festival that took place in Berlin-Wedding, 7–9 August 2026, bringing together artists, performers and researchers from seven countries working across performance, installation, video, sound and public intervention. Curated by Vsevolod Lisovsky and Anton Polski (MAKE / Citizen Make), across venues including exBrache, Chto Delat and public space around Wedding.

emigrationtothefuture.org · Telegram: @emigrationtothefuture

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