The artist Simone Zaugg has conceived a temporary memorial to homosexual and transgender victims of the Nazi regime. Formally taking up the existing metal railing of the flea market registration office, her labyrinthine railing system continuously increases in height. It may be seen as both a metaphorical straightjacket and a playful course.

As an abstract sculpture, the railing labyrinth relates to inclusion and exclusion, to being caught and slipping through, and to a system of order that can be extended. Its structure, which guides the body along unequivocal tracks, recalls the repressive apparatus of “hetero-normativity” that has informed society as a world view to this day, postulating heterosexuality as the social norm and thus setting a standard everything is compared to and judged by. The increasing height of the construction makes it possible to slip through, to duck under the barriers – and to leave and overcome the given system. “Raising the bar” is an English phrase that means making a task more difficult, raising standards and expectations. The title thus highlights the ambivalence between unreachable standards and the idea of barriers which can be overcome.

“The installation is a symbol, an experience, and a metaphor inviting the public to remember and think things through while walking along and continuing on their way.” Simone Zaugg