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Basic concept for the "Zeithain Grove of honour" exhibition
Professional background/Intro:
In recent years, robarchitects has worked interdisciplinarily (intersection of art/architecture) on microarchitectural topics, with architectural/philosophical/humanities-related/ergonomic aspects and the dividing lines between inside and outside, with the importance and use of light, colour and shape, material and immaterial things, limits and perspectives, with the development of new forms of presentation for the theatre, communication architecture/trade fairs and exhibition and museum projects in particular.
Since September 2001, I have been visiting professor for the new Masters degree course in "Architectural Lighting Design" at the Architecture Faculty of Wismar University of Applied Science, as part of which I teach the Light and Architecture, Space and Architecture, Functional Light Typologies, Practical Drawing and Form, as well as Design modules.
Microarchitecture fundamentals
One of the primary tasks of microarchitectural objects / buildings when implanted in old building substance is to combine new and old, traditional and modern elements, material and immaterial, as well as light and non-light in an architectural and material dramaturgy, to bring the existing substance to life in a gentle, financially and aesthetically economic way.
Depending on the subject matter/type of building/use, the pointed use of low tech and high tech can develop the existing identity and harmonise it with the new identity, so that all facets of the history of a location are present simultaneously. The bridge between (a building's) history and the present day opens many windows of vision and understanding, it makes possible a new, lasting encounter with old times and thus makes it easier for young people in particular to understand its essence. The proverbial implantation of a new architectural/thematic heart, the creation/restoration of a publicly effective, micro-climatic niche in the midst of the city culture, an existing site/building can be successful anywhere, even in impossible locations. The modular system and modular growth process are components of this philosophy, which result in an organic, intelligent and flexible development process. The content can grow into a location, form synergies and symbiotic relationships with the subject matter and collection - the Erich Kästner Museum Dresden is an excellent example for this. Even a mundane building container can be given a completely new and exclusive value when a robarchitects skeleton exhibition system, a house in a house is inserted into it.
This living preservation of historical monuments preserves the history of the location and transports to the present/future, extracting the essence of an architectural or urban development topic or subject and makes it usable and accessible to many on multiple levels via a wide range of instruments. The Erich Kästner Museum in Dresden (www.erich-kaestner-museum.de) illustrates this concept.
But it is not only the past and present which are linked to one another in the removal of spatial dividing lines (through the use of the internet) with minimal space requirements (microarchitecture is always on a human scale), the future, the unknown is also provided for in an economic way.
Resource-saving, customised thinking and building is particularly important for old building substance. "Away from the walls" means minimising changes to the existing building substance while simultaneously availing of increased creative opportunities: freedom, independence. Microarchitectural buildings are capable of growth and movement in many ways. One of their strengths is that they can be installed virtually anywhere. As autonomous, high-publicity identity bearers, they can theoretically develop a fruitful relationship to their macro-environment anywhere, revealing their sculptural-spatial fascination. The contents of this flexible store can also be modified and expanded in accordance with the state of research. This kind of novel "small is beautiful" approach, which combines sensual, real elements in a special dramaturgy with media technology also corresponds with the current (and future) developments in knowledge transfer in the communication and education fields.
Zeithain Grove of Honour - initial situation
The grove of honour in Zeithain is one of several cemeteries of honour built in Saxony by the Soviet military administration after 1946, where approximately 8,000 Soviet prisoners of war are buried. The historical discovery and interpretation of the events in the Stalag 304 (IV H) prisoner of war camp started at the end of the 1970's in school projects and research by private individuals, though it was limited to the communist resistance. From 1985 on, an inadequately researched and poorly designed exhibition was on display in the document building of the grove of honour (omission of non-Soviet prisoners, members of the communist resistance emphasised disproportionately, remembrance of the victims influenced by ideology - nevertheless, it was the first memorial on German territory dedicated to the suffering and death of Soviet prisoners of war at the hands of the Germans). From 1995 to 1997, the Saxon Memorial Foundation (Stiftung Sächsische Gedenkstätten) commissioned comprehensive academic research. Starting at the Zeithain grove of honour, there are guided tours to the various cemetery sites and the former camp grounds near the Jacobsthal train station.
There is a reading library, the memorial staff also organise meetings and discussions. Participants in these events include contemporary witnesses and their relatives, as well as visitors with no prior knowledge, school groups and experts.
Material showing the current research status is to be presented in the document house - the other cemeteries and the former camp grounds will also be incorporated.
Basic concept: "Walk-through display case"
As in previous projects planned and implemented by robarchitects, a holistic microarchitectural concept for the subject matter will be individually custom-designed for the Zeithain grove of honour memorial. The object will be on a human scale and communicate sensually and intellectually with visitors on several levels for ethical-philosophical and pragmatic reasons, and be a dignified tribute to those affected and provide an insight into the entire subject matter.
In 2000 robarchitects, commissioned by the Deutsche Hygiene Museum , developed the concept of the walk-through display case as an interim solution while the museum was being renovated (with the option of integrating them in the permanent exhibition at a later stage). The concept originated from the artist and architect's work and experiments with ergonomics, space and light and represents a fitting continuation of his basic philosophic position on humans/individuals, such as interactive space 3 + 4 architecture + ballet, for example. As an architectural representation of the structure of the human body, selected items from the anatomy collection of the museum were to be exhibited in the walk-through glass elements in a poetic dramaturgy. This basic architectural/design concept - which in the case of the Hygiene Museum was applied to a specific case - could be implemented in Zeithain (where the primary subject is the exemplary negation and destruction of individual existence) as an abstract reflection, a delicate architectural homage to the destroyed, and in many cases unknown individual lives which visualises both the individual and mass dimensions, temporal/spatial specifics and global aspects of the history of National Socialism, of sensual perception, emotional ranges as well as specific events, structured processes etc. It is important that external macro-elements which affect multiple historical periods are also incorporated.
When one enters the Zeithain grove of honour, the power and ambivalence of nature strikes one immediately. In the friendly quiet which characterises the area, one can almost hear the ticking clock of time which never stops and cannot be turned back, which does not allow guilt to be erased, and see the comfort and violence of the recurring processes of nature, days and seasons, as they must have been experienced by tens of thousands of soldiers from the Soviet Union between 1941 and 1945, and from Italy, Poland, Yugoslavia, Great Britain and other countries after 1943 in the prisoner of war camp just a few kilometres from here. As time and light have illuminated the endless moments of cruelty, despotism, suffering, hope, meaninglessness, death, the exhibition - precisely against this backdrop, that even decades after 1945 the destinies of the victims were not given enough attention - will make the invisible visible, almost like an x-ray, in a way generating the same picture over and over again in the desire to reach the truth, to get to grips with history. Creating transparency via light and shadow motifs, by creating negative and positive views. A shadow landscape is x-rayed (see the drawings in which the modest landscape situation is captured by many "eyes") - active, colourless, day, night, spring, summer, winter: what did these men see, hear, experience. Perhaps it is a last victory for justice that the beauty of the location and the exhibition architecture speak for these men. To be moderate is a posthumous, individual life-affirming act of liberation, which in spite of, or perhaps because of this, inherently incorporates the horror. The horror was heightened by the paradoxical juxtaposition of beauty - the beauty of nature, even the sober, crafted "beauty" of the camp barracks. A new, different, microclimatic house is to be created in the old house, which simultaneously connects the grove of honour with its surroundings (the ticking clock motif could also be extended into the landscape - the nearby train station, the horizontal movement on the passing train tracks can be included as an element) and with the universal context.
Taking into account the subject-related and spatial networks, a main body of double-glazed thermal glass walling (the mother ship) containing exchangeable exhibits (in a simple wooden frame) and technical elements (e.g. extroverted, image projections onto the outer walls) could be implanted in the barracks. This will encourage visitors to walk around the outside first, while the transparent structure allows various axes of vision/optical superimpositions - of visitors, viewers, exhibits and space, a fragmented, holistic, cubist image in motion. The autonomous, centrally-located object does not alter the dimensions of the original room; the cramped conditions of the barracks can be felt. When the visitor enters the interior of the object it is like going underneath the skin of history, while still frozen in a symbolic time, space and light capsule - equipped with an array of multimedia technology (the presentation of the subject matter can be high or low tech, as can all fittings in the exhibition, depending on the budget), including an internet connection for networking with other memorials and databases. Due to the identity building modular overall concept, the exhibition could easily be added to/modified. With regard to the temperature-related problems in using the barracks, this self-sufficient micro-climatic room (insulated, can be heated at a relatively low cost, a capsule of heat in the authentic cold room of the barracks) offers a solution for all seasons. This warm inner world symbolises life being placed into, a permanent irritation, the cold environment/reality of the N.S. prisoner of war modular wooden barrack. The beauty of the contemporary architecture of glass, a pearl of truth, in its simplicity and smallness puts the heavy, soullessness and gigantic architecture of the N.S. period in its shadow. The object simultaneously acts as a source of light, whereby the combination of daylight and artificial light, the view from outside through the window (in its original condition a metaphor for the individual, dignity, spirit) increases the impression of strangeness and reinforces the sensation of liberation. Also, the fact that the main element of the exhibition behind the dark wooden facade of the barracks includes internet access as a window to the world outside and a democratic way of distributing information, making the whole exhibition transparent, appears both pragmatically and philosophically appropriate.
In the adjacent document building, four micro-versions of the main object have been installed as satellites, using a similar architectural language but finished differently in terms of size and materials. While the mother ship in the barracks is intended to give a total overview, the satellites, will deal with related individual aspects (spatial, temporal individual aspects or groups of victims etc.).
Over the duration of the co-operation, my objective would be to develop a "shadow landscape". See illustration. This project does not require a lot of money, but the sensitive eye of the artist/philosopher to make the invisible visible.
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