Paul Mielke
Paul Mielke (1993, DE) is a graphic designer who researches the concept of nation states and graduate of the master
Interview Paul Mielke
Paul Mielke interviewed by Hattie Wade during the Graduation Show 2022 at the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague (KABK).
Gestures of Good
Graduation project 2021-2022 by Paul Mielke
Wreath Installation
The project focuses on the wreath as an object at the centre of nationalised acts of commemoration: Performances which are constitutive for Germany's identity, as signifiers of a recurring thematisation of and ‘coming to terms’ with the past. It questions whether this ‘culture of remembering’ is subconsciously reinterpreted as an achievement rather than a duty by German society.
A video work composed of a series of historical photographs shows the repetitive nature of these wreath-laying ceremonies to suggest a possible growing indifference towards the individual occasions.
The corresponding publication, introduced by personal memories of affective news imagery, compiles excerpts from archival books and magazines to juxtapose hues of German heritage. Herein, National Socialism is considered as omnipresent rather than a closed chapter, still graspable in everyday life, economy, or family history. This collection interrogates the notion of West Germany as ‘liberated’ as well as the unification of West and East as an alleged redemption moment: A ‘finally right’ another ‘becoming good’.
