SUPERGAU - THE ADVERTISING FOLDER
KONSUMGAU IN WEIMAR
On November 25th 2005 a huge shopping mall opened its gates in the ruins of Weimars »Gauforum«. In Nazi-Germany, the federal state was divided into thirteen provinces called »Gaus«. Each one had a governmental headquarter whichs architectual aim was to demonstrate Nazipower and -superiority. A major objective of Nazi propaganda was to visualize the strength of a controlled mass. The Gauforums monumentality invoked that feeling and enforced it during enormous parades. »The one who won’t remember history is doomed to recreate it.« (George Santayana)For the shopping malls opening event we designed fake advertising folders, which deliberately mixed nowadays consumerism with the history of Nazi Germany. Using common methods of mass-media we placed 5000 of them in Weimars mailboxes. The depicted products reffer directly to the genocide and other crimes of Nazi Germany. The cruel, catchy and unsensitive way our folder deals with these topics directly visualises the scandalous decision of placing a consumerism oasis into a building, that was constructed by the Nazis to serve mass manipulation and propaganda.
Der Prospekt steht zum Download bereitHistory is concealed behind a bright, new facade - no unpleasant memories are supposed to spoil our shopping ceremonies. Consumerisms superficiality and dullness are covering up a memorial that made people aware of Hitlers ideology and megalomania.
Historical evidences let us compare the current state with the past. Enabling us to realize mistakes that are to avoid in the future. Our primary objective was to inform the uninformed and to make the ones remember, that had forgotten the buildings history. We wanted to start off a discussion and debate about this topic. Therefore we summarized the historical background information on a website and installed a forum for the exchange of ideas and views.
MDR BERICHT
SALVE BERICHT
Weitere Infos gibts auf der Aktionswebsite, weitere Bilder gibts in der Galerie