The Auschwitz Gateway Project

2015-2016, 7 minutes

This video installation is designed to be experienced in one place only; the renovated cinema hall located 200 feet from the entrance to Auschwitz.  The intent is to convey a few basic facts and to set a simple reference tone for the 1.5 million annual visitors to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum. The production serves as a bridge experience for visitors, taking them from the world of their transport to modern-day Oswiecim (via motorcoach, auto, or train) to the world they will enter momentarily when they walk under the “Arbeit Macht Frei” gateway to the Auschwitz 1 site.  An innovative use of archival stills and motion picture overlapping with contemporary 4k plates and low altitude visuals will allow people to focus on the places where each visitor stands today, amidst the low and lengthening shadows of yesterday.  

This VIDEO excerpt from the Gateway Project was used for the commemoration of the 70th Anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz.