Chor kontra Monument is a wireless-headphone audio walk and choral performance led by artist Frederike Moormann that unfolds in Leipzig’s Richard-Wagner-Hain. The site holds a complex history, marked notably by the 1934 foundation stone laying by Adolf Hitler for a Richard Wagner monument that was never completed. The event guides participants through the park’s layered past, spanning the Weimar Republic, National Socialism, and the GDR, while engaging critically with Wagner’s controversial legacy. Moormann’s work incorporates deconstructed and sampled motifs from Wagner’s music, highlighting the composer’s anti-Semitic writings and nationalist themes that aligned with Nazi ideology.

Presented as a live performance with wireless headphones, the experience juxtaposes historical narrative and musical interrogation to make the grove’s uneasy heritage physically and sonically accessible. Chor kontra Monument reflects on what it means to encounter a public space named after a figure so charged by historical and political significance. The project is part of the Kunst zum Richard-Wagner-Hain series, supported by the City of Leipzig and cultural partners, and points toward a permanent audio walk installation planned for 2027.