Engaging in Conversation through Art and Research

“Welcome, welcome to the one who came. Welcome to the one who arrived. Truly, welcome to the one who came.”

The voice of former Guantánamo detainee Mansoor Adayfi echoes through the packed Hermann-Levi Hall in Gießen. It is August 22, 2025 – the opening night of “(In)Visibility of Violence”. More than 100 guests have gathered for the exhibition opening at KUNSTHALLE GIESSEN. They listen to a recording of the welcome song with which prisoners in Guantánamo greeted new arrivals – despite the risk of punishment and sanctions. Mansoor Adayfi is one of twenty artists whose works explore different dimensions of political violence, on view for ten weeks as part of the exhibition. The exhibition was curated by Nadia Ismail, Theresa Deichert (both KUNSTHALLE GIESSEN), and Larissa-Diana Fuhrmann (TraCe & PRIF).

Violence does not only manifest itself in war or direct physical destruction. It also operates in subtle, indirect ways – through language, social orders, and structural inequalities. While war and direct physical violence are readily recognizable and omnipresent in the media, other forms of violence remain largely invisible, obscured from view or deliberately hidden. At the same time, violence is constantly evolving in the context of global processes such as digitalization and climate change.

This is precisely where TraCe comes in. The interdisciplinary research center examines the transformation of political violence from multiple perspectives. On the one hand, it seeks to describe and understand how violence changes. On the other, TraCe aims to identify the mechanisms that determine its visibility or invisibility, as well as strategies for containing it. Crucially, TraCe’s work is driven by the ambition to reach beyond academic discourse and to be informed by and draw insights from those spaces in return.

Art opens up alternative ways of seeing the visible and the invisible dimensions of violence. The collaboration between TraCe and KUNSTHALLE GIESSEN began in 2024 at the third TraCe Annual Conference, with a panel discussion on “Depictions of Excessive Violence”. The strong audience response made it clear that a single evening was not enough. The thematic overlaps, unresolved questions and newly sparked ideas called for a larger format. To this end, the Kunsthalle proposed a joint exhibition.

The resulting exhibition foregrounded artistic positions that engaged with both the visible and invisible dimensions of violence and the spaces in between. Accompanying the show, TraCe published the working paper “(In)visibility of Violence”. Contributions from TraCe researchers and Kunsthalle director Nadia Ismail examine the exhibition’s theme from various disciplinary perspectives. “In its open format, the publication breaks with the usual character of the TraCe working paper series,” explains co-editor and knowledge transfer officer Tina Cramer. The texts range from traditional academic analyses to fragmentary reflections, personal vignettes, and questions that challenge future research. The authors also reference the exhibited works, building a bridge between scholarly and artistic reflection.

“In the exhibition, scholarly and artistic perspectives engage in conversation. This allows the audience to both intellectually grasp the subject matter and emotionally experience how political violence shapes human lives. The project confronts political violence with a stance of resistance.”

Larissa-Diana Fuhrmann

For instance, historian Hannah Ahlheim traces the evolution of the concept of trauma since 1945. Trauma describes psychological wounds resulting from existentially threatening experiences of violence – wounds that are often repressed into the unconscious to prevent further emotional distress. Yet violence leaves traces that can persist across generations and remain ever-present. Ahlheim speaks of a “transgenerational haunting” that intertwines the past and the present.

South African artist Helena Uambembe also explores this dimension. Her installation, “What You See Is Not What You Remember,” features a walk-in living room. Amid furniture, photographs, and everyday objects, Uambembe weaves together her family’s history during the Angolan civil war. It is only upon closer inspection that the violent past reveals itself. This recreation of real-life moments makes it clear that not everything is as it appears, and the traces of violence remain inscribed, even if they are no longer immediately visible.

How violence is perceived depends not only on political contexts but also on media framing and one’s own positionality. In her contribution to the working paper, Larissa-Diana Fuhrmann analyzes how factors such as strategic relevance, identification potential, and clear narratives determine which conflicts receive attention. Using the war in Sudan as an example, she demonstrates how the absence of images and narratives can cause even massive violence to fall out of focus, rendering it invisible. Artistic works can counter this dynamic by documenting events, making them visible, demanding accountability, and creating opportunities for action.

Infobox

Research Center TraCe

The Research Center “Transformations of Political Violence” (TraCe) is an interdisciplinary research network comprising five research institutions in Hesse: Goethe University Frankfurt, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Philipps University of Marburg, Technical University of Darmstadt, and PRIF – Peace Research Institute Frankfurt. Knowledge transfer and coordination are based at PRIF. Funded by the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology, and Space (BMFTR), more than forty researchers have been conducting multi-perspective research on transformations of political violence since April 2022.

The significance of resistance is also evident in the works of Mansoor Adayfi. Adayfi, originally from Yemen, was imprisoned in Guantánamo for 15 years without charge. His works, including several poems, were created during his detention and bear witness to resilience and defiance. “Art is not a pastime. Art is resistance. It is a way to survive and stay alive”, he says in his video message. One key exhibit, however, could not be initially shown: his orange prison uniform, which he had hoped to deliver in person. Visa complications prevented this – until the closing event.

Many works deliberately incorporated absences, requiring the audience to engage their imagination. Visitors were challenged to question their ways of seeing and to confront underlying power structures. In this way, the exhibition itself became a site of knowledge transfer. Rather than merely viewing the art, the audience became part of the reflection. This approach reflects TraCe’s broader understanding of transfer. Like at PRIF, where TraCe’s knowledge transfer activities are based, transfer is not seen as a one-way communication of results or definitive answers. Instead, it is understood as a dialogical exchange that opens up a conversation beyond disciplines and the realm of academia.

“Works such as the film by Thomson & Craighead or pieces by Jean-Gabriel Périot made many visitors newly aware that certain forms of violence seem to repeat themselves in endless loops and persist to this day. At the same time, visitor feedback showed how the exhibition also sharpened awareness of current, yet underrepresented, conflict zones such as Sudan, as well as often hidden structural violence against women and minorities.”

Nadia Ismail

The accompanying program organized by KUNSTHALLE GIESSEN provided further opportunity for this deeper exchange. Formats such as the events “Art and Coffee” and “Art Buzz” invited discussion in a relaxed atmosphere – over coffee on a Sunday afternoon or cocktails in the evening. The screening of Laura Poitras’ documentary “Death of a Prisoner” (2013) and the subsequent discussion sparked in-depth conversations on structural violence, witnessing, and the possibility of remembrance and mourning. Nadia Ismail summarized the experience: “In my conversations with visitors, I was particularly moved by how strongly they responded to the complexity of often subtle forms of violence. These invisible facets have a lasting effect on how we view current global events – as well as the enduring historical repercussions of violence.”

“What stayed with me most was how powerfully the exhibition functioned as a dialogical platform. The diversity of artistic positions and the differences – alongside the universality – of how violence manifests and affects people triggered deeply personal and often emotional responses. Conversations between audiences, artists, and curators prompted reflections on one’s own life and role within social structures, often tied to systems of injustice.”

Theresa Deichert

On November 2, 2025 – the final day of the exhibition – the circle closed. In the Hermann-Levi-Saal in Giessen, the chairs are now arranged in three large circles. At the closing event, visitors joined the curators in discussing artistic methods, personal experiences, social responsibility, and the relationship between art and research. Alongside artist Jonas Höschl, Mansoor Adayfi was also present. Wearing his orange prison garb, he delivered his greeting in person. His voice echoed loudly through the room:

“Welcome, welcome to the one who came. Welcome to the one who arrived. Truly, welcome to the one who came.” (tcr, hfr)