Himmelweg (The Road To Heaven), still from vide and installation view form Beita gallery, 2024.
Himelweg (the road to heaven)
one-channel video loop, 07:34 min
2015
The video work refers to SHOA(Claude Lanzman 1985) and was shot in Adar Bechars’ studio’ using a miniature set that was built according to victims’ testimonies from Shoa s’ script. Lanzman was obsessed and fully occupied with the idea that the Nazis’ actions, mainly the Final Solution were well planned and therefore it was almost impossible to anticipate or resist,
Following his way of thinking the video work Himmelweg (The Road to Heaven) is based on the idea of mechanism. The work consists of three cycles of events. Every cycle is similar to the previous one, yet shorter. In every cycle The artist (who dresses as a worker) and the photographer in the studio and in a certain moment there is a swift change- from the studio to a tunnel-like space. The viewer is led into a gray, concrete space which leads to a gass-chamber-like. When the “ gas chamber” s’ doors open the camera moves back to the studio space and a new cycle starts again.
The work conducts the viewers between worlds, the real world and the miniature (imaginary)
The Nazis used to send the document as a going improving process. One of these documents was manifested in Himmelweg ( The Road to Heaven) as an anonymous voice-over -
"It has been observed that when the doors are shut, the 'load' always presses hard against the doors as soon as darkness sets in. This is because the 'load' naturally rushes toward the light when darkness sets in, which makes closing the doors difficult. Also because of the alarming nature of darkness, screaming always occurs when the doors are closed. It would therefore be useful to light the lamp before and during the first moments of the operation".
Using an encoder language, the Nazis refer the Jews as 'load', the mentioned doors refer to special vans/ vehicles which operated as moving gas chambers. Himmelwegev(German; sky, Heaven) was an encoded black hummer nickname for the road that led to the gas chambers.