Material Board

This is a proposal for a form of presentation and preservation of building materials that were excavated in the former concentration camp of Buchenwald, or of the remains of destroyed buildings. They are parts of a sick bay and operation building in the former prisoners camp. After the buildings were demolished in the early 1950s, part of the material was left lying on the site and gradually covered by earth and plants. After the turn of the millennium, the former building locations were exposed to make them accessible for visitors to the Buchenwald memorial site. Anke Binnewerg’s plan is to organise the scattered materials on site using sample areas or stands, such as those found in do-it-yourself stores or building material suppliers. The presentation of material types, forms and colour schemes illustrates the former use and evokes ideas of what they used to look like. The receptacles assigned to the sample areas also enable protected storage of the material. In contemporary do-it-yourself stores, many of the materials piled up or scattered in Buchenwald can be found in a similar way. What becomes perceptible is that they are the remnants of a time that is very close to us—at least regarding material culture.

 
Winner
2nd prize (Experiments)