In 2014 Catrin Bolt initiated and realised the project Alltagsskulpturen Mahnmal (Everyday Sculptures Memorial) that can be seen in 10 different places with a total length of about 1.200 meters in various districts of Vienna. In May and October 2017 it was extended by six locations with a total length of about 800 meters in the second, fifth, ninth and twentieth district of Vienna.

Catrin Bolt’s Alltagsskulpturen Mahnmal was based on personal reports of incidents in the public space of Vienna during the time of National Socialism. Road marking paint was used to apply passages from these reports in various places so that they could be read by people walking by. The places chosen were the scenes where the described incidents had occurred. Passersby could thus experience the urban space and their surroundings not only in their present distinctiveness and function but also in their historical dimension and in regard to what had happened there.

Many maltreatments occurred in the public realm, loudly and visibly; the text lines were intended to be equally discernible. The urban space was used as a political stage and thus contained a part of history within itself. The reports emphasized the aspect of public visibility and presented the incidents from the victims’ perspective. The texts were applied along sidewalks; the color of the marking paint was black. Black paint of this kind is frequently used to revoke the validity of markings by overpainting them. In this case, however, it served to make the invisible visible again. With a total length of one thousand meters, the memorial extended along ten places across several districts of Vienna.

Since the lettering is designed from street marking material and the memorial is applied directly to the ground surfaces of the outdoor space, there are parallels to street markings in and of themselves. These change with the urban space, adapting to the conditions and the needs of the inhabitants. They can be renewed, some decay or crumble away, and new markings are always being added. The memorial can also be seen as a growing and adapting urban structure. In some places it remains well preserved, elsewhere it changes due to weather, construction sites, underground conditions and wear and tear, and in still other places new texts are added. As part of the city, it thus co-designs itself with the changing and living outdoor space. The project is emphasized in its incompleteness as not completed (and not concludeable), as the incidents that are referred to are not manageable and also not completely narratable.