Where once the bodies of the dead were waiting for inquest and cremation, run until December 9. March Movies. In this place, which was never intended to be for entertainment, but for a farewell, shows the Arsenal-Institute for Film and video art in collaboration with the Berlinale films beyond the cinema mainstream. In the hall several strips of flicker at the same time on different walls. Silent Green cultural quarter is in the former crematory in Berlin-Wedding.
A former mortuary and a crematorium, as a cultural location, how can you play? Just like any other house, says Jörg Heitmann, Silent Green. “The crematorium, which always sounds worse than it is.” Jörg Heitmann smiles. Since the building was erected, had positive feelings predominated, namely, empathy and letting go.
the First crematorium in Berlin
As the crematorium between 1909 and 1910, was built, it was the first of Berlin and the third in Prussia at all. While they were in the ancient custom, were cremation is forbidden in the middle ages by the Church and came only in the Wake of the French Revolution. In the German Empire, the free-thinking movement for the cremation.
in 1909, the construction of the dome hall began were allowed to be buried in the urns. Architect William Muller, taking into account two years before the legal authorisation of cremation in Prussia, that you could turn the building into a crematorium with a chimney, coffin Elevator and foundations for the furnace.
in 1911, allowed Prussia and then the cremation, the dead Sunday of the year 1912 was celebrated the inauguration of the crematorium. In the 30s it was the most powerful fire-funeral facility in all of Europe. The national socialists used it for “special tasks” – including the cremation of the resistance fighters of the 20th century. July, 1944. Despite severe damage during the Second world war, the plant was taken at the end of 1945 it was again in operation.
The old building with the dome of an underground morgue with fully automated coffin warehouse, in the up to 817 dead body found the place came out in 1993 to 1996. The state of the art incineration plant in Europe was closed for reasons, six years after the commissioning of capacity, as the new crematorium was in Treptow in operation. The Silent Green acquired the building in 2013 by the state of Berlin and the renovated monument protected old building, before the cultural quarter of 2015 was opened.
traces of the former Purpose are still visible
In the old building are yet to receive the sacred elements, for example, the niches, in which once stood urns, or the image of a snake on the floor of the dome hall, which symbolizes the new beginning. In the until the beginning of 2019 renovated Concrete building that reminds some, however, hardly to use as a body bearing.
The room layout, however, betrays the former purpose: to Eleven rectangular holes gape in the wall between the lounge area of the café and the exhibition. In front of each hole medicine in the court to a dissection table, a robot delivered the bodies from the warehouse through the holes.
comments Where in the past, Grieving in the dome hall of farewell, a great place to find concerts, seminars and Workshops. The underground concrete hall offers space for moving image art and cinema, as it is now for the series of the Arsenal-Institute. The underground facility must not be darkened for presentations extra, because Windows or skylights. In addition, the walls are dark. Difficult, as exhibition curator Anselm Franke, however, is the acoustics. That’s because the event, the Forum Expanded is to say, showing movies in parallel.
The underground, windowless and plain concrete hall is suitable for film screenings.Photo: Cordia Schlegelmilch
The venue is as unusual as the films themselves
In the L-shaped space, a lot is going on today: An old projector rattles loudly during the 35-Millimeter Film “Wosa (Coyote’s Burden Basket)” by Heike Baranowsky shows how to use a camera to a spiritually significant crater in Death Valley circles.
Including the votes of a questioner and an Interviewee in the fictional documentary “Transformation Scenario” by Clemens von Wedemeyer on the detection and prediction of mass mixing behavior. Behind a of artist Anne Low woven silk cloth, the sound of a loom is coming out. It is the Soundtrack to the Film “The Fine Thread of Deviation” by Evan Calder Williams on weaving, automation, and rebellion. Impressions from the individual films are mixed: some Work, says curator Franke, this would lead to a deliberate interaction.
From the start, Franke explains, is the Forum Expanded, a place for the avant-garde films beyond the conventional cinema have been a space for anti-cinema. Also, some of the Works on display relate to it. The curator looks into the “Transformation Scenario” is an important theme of the cinema avant-garde: “the fact That the behavior of the mass is predictable, has addressed the anti-cinema.”
The exhibition “anti-cinema (The Siren’s Echo Chamber)” is still up 9. To see the March in the Silent Green cultural quarter, court road 35,. The opening Hours are Tuesday to Sunday from 14 to 19 PM. Tickets for the exhibition cost is eight, reduced to six euros. The Finissage will take place on 9. March 19 at noon. Exhibition tours at the 23. February and 3. March is asked to 15, register at [email protected].
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Berlinale 2019, The Forum-movies at a Glance
Christiane Peitz
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