From the 15th to the 18th century, more than 60,000 people were convicted of witchcraft and burned. The majority of those accused were women, in some cases accounting for over ninety percent of the victims. 

Almost half of all burnings in Europe took place within the territory of the German Empire. In the Franconian prince-bishoprics, the hunt for alleged witches developed into horrific mass persecutions. 

In the Bishopric of Bamberg alone, the names of over 880 victims have been recorded, including women, men, and children. However, we must assume that the number of victims was higher, as some documents were deliberately destroyed or lost forever through negligence.

Nevertheless, Bamberg's libraries and archives contain historical documents that bear witness to the unspeakable suffering of hundreds of innocent people, recording their names and circumstances, and sometimes their own words. 

We dedicate this video installation to them and to the nameless.

By lending them faces, voices, and thoughts, we want to let them speak to us and warn us. Together, we call out to the persecutors from back then and from today: Your witches don't exist!

Vom 15. bis zum 18. Jahrhundert wurden in Europa gemäß Schätzungen 60.000 Menschen als Hexen verurteilt und verbrannt. Weit über die Hälfte der Angeklagten waren Frauen, bisweilen über neunzig Prozent der Opfer. 

Nahezu die Hälfte der europäischen Verbrennungen fanden auf dem Gebiet des Deutschen Reiches statt. In fränkischen Fürstbistümern entwickelte sich die Jagd nach vermeintlichen Hexen zu grauenhaften Massenverfolgungen. 

Allein im Hochstift Bamberg sind die Namen von über 880 Opfern überliefert, darunter Frauen, Männer und Kinder. Wir müssen jedoch höhere Opferzahlen annehmen, da Dokumente teils bewusst vernichtet oder durch Nachlässigkeit für immer verloren wurden.

Gleichwohl bergen Bambergs Bibliotheken und Archive historische Dokumente, die vom unsäglichen Leiden hunderter unschuldiger Menschen zeugen, ihre Namen und Lebensumstände, zuweilen ihre eigenen Worte überliefern. 

Ihnen und den Namenlosen widmen wir diese Video-Installation.

Indem wir ihnen Gesichter, Stimmen und Gedanken leihen, wollen wir sie zu uns sprechen und uns warnen lassen. Gemeinsam rufen wir den Verfolgern von damals und von heute zu: Eure Hexen gibt es nicht!

Foto - und Filmaufnahmen der Video-Installation in der Johanniskapelle Bamberg © Robin Lambrecht 

A moving installation brings the voices of victims of witch hunts back to life. It makes it clear that it could have happened to anyone. 

Carolin Gißibl

https://www.fraenkischertag.de/lokales/bamberg/kultur-freizeit/erinnerung-an-opfer-der-hexenverfolgung-in-bamberg-art-503149

Eine bewegende Installation lässt die Stimmen von Opfern der Hexenverfolgungen wieder erklingen. Sie macht deutlich: Es konnte jeden treffen. 

Carolin Gißibl

https://www.fraenkischertag.de/lokales/bamberg/kultur-freizeit/erinnerung-an-opfer-der-hexenverfolgung-in-bamberg-art-503149

CONVERSATIONS ABOUT TREES

2024 1-Channel-Video 54min

LENA MARIA HELD / MARCUS NEBE

In Conversations about Trees, Gespräche über Bäume, we immerse ourselves in the world of the forest. The filmmakers Lena Maria Held and Marcus Nebe talk to people from the Ore Mountains in the former GDR about the role that nature and plants play in their lives and follow them into the world of ancient lime trees and oaks. There they encounter trees that are story tellers, friends and healers. Together with their protagonists, they explore the knowledge and treasures that the forests generously offer us, especially in difficult times. 

During her time as Artist in Residence of the program Orte der Demokratie (places of democracy) in the small town of Augustusburg in the Ore Mountains, Saxony, Lena Maria Held came across an old linden tree planted in the castle's yard in 1421. She was fascinated by the tree and started filming it. Together with the artist and film maker Marcus Nebe from Leipzig they met people from the region who cultivate a special relation to nature and trees and who offered tho share their thoughts on what we humans can learn from trees for our coexistence.

Fotoaufnahmen der Ausstellung im Lehngericht Augustusburg © Jana Margarete Schuler

Das Artist in Residence Stipendium im Lehngericht Augustusburg wurde gefördert durch das Projekt Orte der Demokratie des Sächsischen Staatsministeriums für Soziales, Gesundheit und Gesellschaftlichen Zusammenhalt. 

TANGLED UP IN YOU

INEINANDER VERSTRICKT

TANGLED UP IN YOU

2022 1-Channel-Video 30min

LENA MARIA HELD / MARCUS NEBE

Tangled Up in You tells the story of an unusual encounter. During a design workshop, women from diverse cultural and age groups get to know each other. Among them are Mahshid, a young Iranian woman who fled her home country with her son Radmehr. Marieme, who left Senegal to be able to feed her six children. Cheshmeh from Iran, who fights for women's rights and Mariam from Georgia, who seeks artistic freedom. While they wait for decisions on their asylum applications the women from the arrival centre design up-cycled outfits together with long-established Bamberg women like the once knitting-enthusiast 91-year-old Renate, whose hands don't work anymore, and Anette, who passes on boxes of knitted mementos from her family. Throughout the time the women teach each other to knit they tell each other stories. In this way, intimate friendships gradually develop in the open workshop alongside unusual individual pieces.

Gefördert durch

ART AGAINST POLITICS

2020 1-Channel-Video 30min

LENA MARIA HELD / MARCUS NEBE

For their film, Lena Maria Held and Marcus Nebe, spoke with diverse members of the Warsaw art scene, such as the visual artist Zuzanna Janin, the illustrator Luka Rayski or the photographer Rafal Milach, about their efforts to impact Poland’s political environment through the use of art as a kind of political tool. Beginning with its 2015 victory of the presidential and parliamentary elections in Poland, the National Conservative Party "Law and Justice" (PiS), gradually undermined Poland’s democratic institutions by disrupting the separation of powers. As Polish citizens sensed the shortcomings of the new government, resistance reached the streets. Art Against Politics documents interventions of local artists, who were drawn to respond to the political turmoil and contribute to the social resistance movement through the means of creating and the film makers listen to the artists' thoughts on the role art can play in shaping the ways we live together.

HOMESTORY

zu Gast im Mainschlösschen

HOMESTORY

2023 1-Channel-Video 30min

LENA MARIA HELD / MARCUS NEBE