A memorial site at the harbor edge of Flensburg.
Grounded in a shared sense of humanity — acknowledging the lived experiences and historical entanglements that connect Flensburg and the Virgin Islands.
01 / Point of Departure
For centuries, Flensburg’s harbor was the economic center of the city. From here, goods were shipped that were closely tied to Danish colonial history — particularly sugar and rum from the Caribbean islands.
The proposed memorial is titled “Ballast.” The term refers to a concrete historical practice in seafaring: ships sailing to the Caribbean without heavy cargo often carried bricks as ballast. These stabilized the vessel during the crossing and were unloaded again in colonial ports.
In this way, bricks from European port cities reached the Caribbean. What appears to be a marginal material thus becomes a silent carrier of colonial entanglements. At the same time, “ballast” stands metaphorically for a historical burden that continues into the present.
02 / Spatial Design
The waterfront edge is shaped by an inclined, walkable surface made of bricks, sloping down toward the fjord. Parts of the structure extend into the water and are partially submerged.
The installation serves as a place to stay: visitors can sit, linger, or walk down to the water and immerse their feet. The brick structure forms a large-scale grid that can be read as a QR code — only fragmentarily recognizable on the ground, and fully revealed from a bird’s-eye view.
The memorial deliberately remains open and close to everyday life. It integrates into public space without asserting itself as a traditional monument.
03 / Visibility and Invisibility
The project operates within a tension between physical presence and media-based legibility. On site, the installation appears as a simple brick surface. Its meaning is not immediately apparent.
Only through active engagement — by recognizing the structure or scanning the code — does the embedded history become accessible. This approach reflects the way colonial history is often encountered: it is present, but frequently not visible or consciously perceived.
04 / Digital Layer & Collaboration
The QR code serves as a gateway to a digital platform that forms an integral part of the memorial — a digital layer that complements the memorial without determining its meaning.
The content of this platform is developed in collaboration with Dr. Chenzira Davis-Kahina, director of the Virgin Islands Caribbean Cultural Center, within the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of the Virgin Islands. Its artistic and digital archival productions and its historical development are institutionally grounded in the cultural research technology made professionally available through the VICCC.
The digital component is conceived as a focused and adaptable format, allowing for selected contributions such as short texts or audio elements. It remains open to gradual development over time, without requiring a fixed or extensive platform structure.
This collaboration ensures that Caribbean perspectives are not defined or interpreted from a European standpoint.
In Partnership
The digital layer of Ballast is a genuine partnership. It is authored and stewarded from the Caribbean, not about the Caribbean.
Institutional Partner
UVI is the only Historically Black College and University and Land Grant Institution in the Caribbean. Through its College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, the university provides the academic home, scholarly review, and long-term institutional footing for the memorial’s digital archive.
Content & Cultural Research Lead
Directed by Dr. Chenzira Davis-Kahina, the VICCC holds rare collections, oral histories, and archives spanning art, history, ecology, and technology. The Center leads the artistic and digital archival production behind the code — ensuring Virgin Islands voices speak for themselves.
05 / Experience of the Site
Visitors initially encounter the memorial as an everyday space: a place to sit, an access point to the water, a part of the harbor edge.
Only through attention and interaction does a second layer become visible. The site does not demand immediate interpretation but unfolds gradually. The connection between physical space and digital extension enables an individual and self-directed engagement with history.
06 / Significance
The memorial consciously avoids figurative representation or a traditional monument. Instead, it creates an open structure that makes historical connections visible without fixing them.
The bricks as “ballast” point to the material foundations of colonial trade — the ordinary cargo that made the crossing possible.
The QR code transforms this structure into an access point for knowledge and remembrance, opening the site to anyone with a phone.
Through collaboration with partners from the Virgin Islands, the site connects Flensburg with the Caribbean islands not only historically but in the present.
Ballast proposes a shared public space that is not simply observed but actively accessed — a place where the weight of history is carried, contemplated, embraced, and made perceptible for healing our shared humanity.
Support the Work
Your gift supports the archival preservation, oral history collection, and cultural research that fill the memorial’s digital layer with real Virgin Islands voices. Donations are processed securely through the University of the Virgin Islands and are designated to the VI Caribbean Cultural Center, the project’s cultural research partner.