Archive und Kunst: Alicia Felberbaum “Undressing Room”

Undressing Room from alicia felberbaum on Vimeo.

“In “Undressing Room” I’ve used a combination of animated stills and documentary open source archive material from the camps filmed in the immediate aftermath of World War II. I’ve chosen this form of representation, in between animation and documentary, to approach the paradox to ascribe meaning to that which explodes the structure of meaning itself. Working In between layers of reality, I strived for a more nuanced and/or poetic demonstration of the events, experience and identity, in such a way to build into the work associations connected with the subject. The ambiguous nature of the work is an attempt for the audience to bring its own interpretation and experience to the screen.

People arriving to the camps in Auschwitz, were told to undress in preparation for showering. They left their personal effects and queue in the undressing room before entering the rooms with signs saying “baths” and “sauna”. Its furnishings were meant to simulate a shower room. To avoid panic, they were given a small piece of soap and a towel and were told to remember where they had put their belongings. The shower room was a large room with rows of exposed water pipes and sprinkler-type showerheads on the ceiling. The water was hot, the pellets had to be heated before they release the poison and the heat of the bodies caused the gas to work faster. “

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