Re: <nettime> Are Cities Good For Creativity?

[J Rabie <joe@overmydeadbody.org>]

Here are elements concerning a work I did on the Dachau concentration 
camp, called "Dachau: the Prototype".

"Dachau, the first Nazi concentration camp, was established shortly 
after Hitler came to power, and served to conceptualise the methodology 
of terror that was to be used to annihilate the enemies of the Nazi 
state. The work is a contemplative exploration of the camp as memorial, 
in confrontation with the impossibility to resuscitate the millions of 
victims. The viewer interacts with scenes of the camp: the barracks, 
the prison bunker, the crematorium, guided by a tumultuous, dying 
heartbeat."

One of the themes explored is the nature of aesthetics...

..."This ever-changing geometry within the picture is the entry point 
into the work, because the random association of objects creates 
moments of visual harmony that is contrary to the meaning of Dachau. 
Geometry is a concept fabricated within the mind, located at the 
confluence between science and art. As such, it can only be human and 
civilisational, yet here its aesthetic is associated with the most 
unspeakable barbary that art and science, as acts of human engagement, 
should have opposed, but failed to do so. The disquietude created by 
the contradiction between the reality of Dachau and the contemplative, 
even mesmerizing, character of the images serves to prompt a reflection 
on the treacherous nature of aesthetics itself: socially and 
culturally, aesthetics is perceived of as a carrier of positive values, 
yet in verity it is situated exterior to any moral system The 
association between "beauty" and "goodness" is opportunistic and often 
contentious."...

For more info and illustrations:

http://www.joetopia.org/photo_interactive/e/dachau/index.htm


Joseph Rabie.




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