Was tun, wie umgehen mit dem ›Dissonanten Kulturerbe‹?

Abstract The notion of dissonance expands on Norbert Huse’s concept of Uncomfortable Monuments to include the identification of conflicting heritage communities emerging from divergent practices of use and memory and differing political, cultural and social affiliations. This notion can be ascribed to any cultural heritage and invokes multi-perspective approaches to research, participation and mediation strategies. In border areas and sites of conflict, the dissonance model can become a laboratory for diverse site- and situation-specific perspectives on and inclusive processes of negotiation of existing cultures of memory and commemoration. Fostering the individuals’ right to participate in the process of definition, research into, and interpretation of cultural heritage, the Council of Europe’s Framework Convention on the Value of Cultural Heritage for Society (2005) provides instructions on the study of dissonant cultural heritage and explicitly recommends the democratic participation of different perspectives in the shared co-production of heritage.