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Himmelweg (The Road To Heaven) (2012)

 

The artwork consists of three cycles of events (loops), each is similar to the previous one, yet shorter and quicker.  In every cycle the artist (dressed as a worker) is shown with the photographer in the studio. At a certain moment there is a swift transition – from the studio to a long tunnel, leading the viewer into gray, concrete spaces. The unnerving concrete space is revealed as an architectural miniature. The manipulation of fear, claustrophobia and the associations with gas chambers invoke a cinematic illusion, despite the exposure of the miniature scale.

The relationship between the artist and the photographer is ambiguous. They work together, yet in silence and lack of coordination. Their setting, the studio, resembles the miniature itself.

The work attempts to follow the idea of creating a mechanism, and examine to what extent it is possible to predict events, and to what degree one can be ready for them (and resist them). The artwork recreates the element of surprise, the abrupt transition between the "ordinary" world and the tunnel (the Nazis named the tunnel that led to the gas chambers "the road to heaven"). This transition happens at once, without warning. The viewer cannot plan ahead and prepare; although the artwork is comprised of three cycles that might hint at the turn of events to the viewer – he or she finds out that the mechanism is efficient and the transition between worlds is quick and violent.

Stills from video
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