Linz, 2009

3 thoughts on “Linz, 2009”

Tal de Lange says:

May 27, 2018 at 6:41 pm

Between Beauty and Memory
Images that catch my attention are usually the ones that are most peaceful and strikingly beautiful. Those that show deep green landscapes or have nature beauty at its best. Those that you wish to breath the fresh air, stay and meditate.
These places seem so innocent that one cannot imagine their dark days that sully their history. The contrast between the image and the memory echoes the words of W.G. Sebald, ‘Vertigo’
“Even when the images supplied by memory are true to life, one can place little confidence in them”

This contrast between the invisible past and the tranquil present was one of the challenges that we had to withstand with, when Studio de Lange was asked to plan Block 27- the Jewish Pavilion in Auschwitz, UNESCO Heritage site, Poland.
For us, as the architects and designers of the Jewish Pavilion, it was important to maintain the original spaces inside the Block as far as possible, including keeping the windows uncovered to underscore the connection between the exhibition and its authentic, historic surroundings that today has a pastoral appearance, green trees and flowers, as in these images.

How do we explain the horrible facts and at the same time make people understand, internalize and develop renewed insights, regarding their own contemporary existence?
How do we teach without being manipulative and interpretative while the past dissolves every year and its witnesses are disappearing?
How do we keep the ghosts alive for the sake of our better future?

“History indeed resembles a crowded cemetery, where room must
constantly be made for new tombstones”
_Halbwachs

Arch. Tal de Lange
Studio de Lange
Architecture and Design of The Jewish Pavilion, Auschwitz, Poland

Zwischen Schönheit und Erinnerung
Es sind meist die friedlichsten und auffallend schönen Bilder, die mein Interesse wecken. Solche, die tiefgrüne Landschaften oder die absolute Schönheit der Natur zeigen. Bei denen man die frische Luft einatmen, dableiben und meditieren möchte.
Diese Orte wirken so unschuldig, dass man sich ihre dunklen Tage, die ihre Geschichte beschmutzt haben, nicht vorstellen kann. In dem Kontrast zwischen Bild und Erinnerung hallen die Worte von W. G. Sebald aus „Vertigo“ wider: „Selbst wenn die von der Erinnerung gelieferten Bilder lebensecht sind, kann man ihnen wenig Vertrauen schenken.“

Dieser Gegensatz zwischen der unsichtbaren Vergangenheit und der ruhigen Gegenwart war eine der Herausforderungen, der wir uns stellen mussten, als Studio de Lange gebeten wurde, den Block 27 zu planen – den jüdischen Pavillon in Auschwitz, UNESCO-Weltkulturerbe in Polen.
Für uns als Architekten und Designer des jüdischen Pavillons war es wichtig, die ursprünglichen Räume innerhalb des Blocks so weit wie möglich zu erhalten, einschließlich der Fenster, um die Verbindung zwischen der Ausstellung und ihrer authentischen historischen Umgebung zu unterstreichen. Diese Umgebung ist heute ländlich, mit grünen Bäumen und Blumen, wie in diesen Bildern.

Wie erklären wir die grausamen Fakten und lassen gleichzeitig Menschen verstehen, verinnerlichen und neue Einsichten in Bezug auf ihre eigene Gegenwart gewinnen? Wie unterrichten wir, ohne manipulativ und interpretativ zu sein, während sich die Vergangenheit jedes Jahr weiter auflöst und ihre Zeugen verschwinden?
Wie halten wir die Geister im Sinne einer besseren Zukunft am Leben?

„Die Geschichte gleicht einem überfüllten Friedhof, auf dem ständig Platz für neue Grabsteine geschaffen werden muss.“
_Halbwachs

Arch. Tal de Lange
Studio de Lange
Architektur und Design des jüdischen Pavillons, Auschwitz, Polen

Reply
Sonja Sellinath says:

December 26, 2022 at 7:54 pm

When looking at the photograph “Linz, 2009” for the first time, the color composition is particularly striking. The rich but not garish colors show nature in a still and untouched way; no one disturbs the balance that prevails between the bright blue of the sky and the green and partly brown parts of the ground. This is also reinforced by the fact that the dominant colors of the photo, green and blue, belong to the cool color palette, which not least also ensures that a certain coldness is conveyed. This creates a certain calm and sobriety when you look at it.
It is all the more surprising, almost shocking, to know that Linz was once under the command of the Nazi regime. The seven-year rule, which ended in May 1945 with heavy shelling by the US Army, is the complete opposite of the photograph; People, weapons, war- like conditions, all of this stands in complete contrast to the untouched nature and harmony. It gets clear that “Linz 2009” shows that the change in societies and landscapes can be very important, and in cases like this, are even necessary. Viewing the image with this knowledge, it is not just the stillness that is conveyed, but a certain reminder that nothing is permanent.

Bei der erstmaligen Betrachtung der Fotografie “Linz,2009“, fällt vor allem die Farbkomposition auf. Die satten, aber nicht grellen Farben zeigen die Natur auf eine stille und unberührte Weise; kein Mensch stört das Gleichgewicht, welches zwischen dem hellen blau des Himmels und dem grünen und teils braunen Teilen des Bodens herrscht. Dies wird ebenfalls durch den Fakt verstärkt, dass die dominanten Farben des Fotos, grün und blau, der kühlen Farbpalette angehören, was nicht zuletzt ebenfalls dafür sorgt, dass eine gewisse Kälte übermittelt wird. Somit entstehen bei der Betrachtung eine gewisse Ruhe und Nüchternheit.
Umso überraschender, fast schockierender ist es, zu wissen, dass Linz einmal unter der Befehlsgewalt des Nazi Regimes stand. Die siebenjährige Herrschaft, welche im Mai 1945 durch den schweren Beschuss durch die US-Armee beendet wurde, stellt das komplette Gegenteil zu der Fotografie dar; Menschen, Waffen, kriegsartige Zustände, das alles steht im vollen Kontrast zu der Unberührtheit und Harmonie der Natur. Umso mehr wird bewusst, dass „Linz 2009“ zeigt, dass der Wandel von Gesellschaften und Landschaften sehr wichtig sein kann, in Fällen wie diesem, sogar notwendig sind. Betrachtet man das Bild mit diesem Wissen, so ist es nicht nur die Ruhe die übermittelt wird, sondern eine gewisse Erinnerung daran, dass nichts Beständig ist.

Reply
Julia Roppel says:

April 12, 2023 at 5:34 am

A picture is worth a thousand words…. Nothing describes the special media expression of pictures – be they painted or photographed – better than this now common saying, which goes back to an article by Kurt Tucholski in the 1920s.
Today, images – photographic images – are as self-evident as texts as a means of information – they circulate around the world every second…
And the recipients, the audience, what do we do?
The special role of the recipients in the viewing of pictures, in the understanding of art was already thematized by Marcel Duchamp and he was not the only one!
Only our thoughts and feelings complete a work of art, so to speak. This is especially true for the photographic image, which Conceptual Art already pointed out in the 1970s and 80s.

Dana Arieli hunts phantoms with the photo camera – with manifold pictures of our present, she makes the traces of our history visible – in the process an overwhelming archive, an absolutely impressive kaleidoscope has been created.
But that is not enough for her!
In the spirit of modernism, she asks her audience for comments on her documentary photographs and compiles everything into a kind of collective memory on her website, which is accessible to anyone at any time – in the spirit of a democratic, pluralistic society that transcends national borders.

We took up this approach to understanding and participating in documentary photography in an art class called Media. I presented the work of Dana Arieli to the course and then asked them to also write texts on a self-selected image from the archive of the Nazi Phantoms. And it was precisely this challenge that those who participated in the project took on – to find and formulate words to an image, a photograph, that nevertheless already has more than a thousand words and yet conceals them.
The approach was often the one you learn on the way to high school graduation, you first try to describe what you see – but then you go beyond that and so very personal, independent thought sketches emerge – this includes not only ideas and the linguistic ability, but also the courage to formulate them, especially since these are images that question our present with regard to the most difficult, most guilty phase of Germany’s past.
In the summer of 2022, Dana Arieli visited Frankfurt again to take photographs, and so in the fall we had new pictures to which further texts were written.
In the meantime, we already had to deal with the topic of architecture in the art course, but the photographs also provided good clues for this.
Today is also a premiere in that it is the first time that the participants have had the opportunity to have their texts comprehensively presented to each other and to read them. There wasn’t really time for that before – after all, everything had to fit into the framework of the course with a limited time budget, as school is with all the other demands.
The artist’s concept did not include sharing the comments, which certainly emphasized the personal nature of the texts.
The photographs that the students chose for their comments formed the basis for the conception of this exhibition, which we finally put together in Jerusalem in December.

When the exhibition opens today, when the public enters the room, we are once again faced with a challenge: We must tap into the special relationship between image and text. Dana Arieli does not release the audience from responsibility – entirely in the sense of participatory, democratic processes.

Therefore it is particularly gratifying that a publication in Berlin newspaper format was possible, the design of which we owe to Rainer Raczinski and the financing of which to the Friends of the FDG.
Thus we have come full circle from the digital availability of the texts on the website to texts in a newspaper, which you can hold in your hands here and which will hopefully make it easy for you to pick up the thread and delve into the exhibition….. Take the opportunity today to engage in conversation with the artist Dana Arieli, but also with the students, before perhaps commenting in silence or even through the website itself.

My thanks go to Christian Kaufmann and his staff for hosting us with the project so wonderfully at the Heussenstamm Gallery and making the exhibition possible.
I thank all supporting institutions very much and I am very happy that Dana Arieli came from Jerusalem especially for the opening a few days ago, we could finally realize our wish to make her and the project participants:inside, if they could come tonight, acquainted with each other.
I wish you all a wonderful evening!

Julia Roppel, Artist, Teacher and Curator of Dana Arieli “Nazi Phantom” Exhibition, Frankfurt, March 2023.

Reply