Last October I visited Bauhaus University in Weimar, and on my way from the Central train station, I passed along an empty green lawn. It looked unfinished and underwhelming and it became apparent to me that the site needed to reconstruct or otherwise filled somehow.

After I had received my task for the aptitude test, it became clear to me why this area was chosen in particular.

I began researching about the Gauforum, its construction process, as well as its history. In fact, one of the first ideas I had was to look into its past and create an installation resembling the demolished buildings and streets as they had been in 1938. However, upon some reflection, it occurred to me that I should instead focus on something more recent and more relevant.

Currently, one of the most significant events happening in Europe is the refugee crisis. It is a very controversial topic that has inspired many heated debates around issues such as immigration and human rights. I want to humanize this issue by not addressing it directly and I wondered about the ways this could be possible.

While this particular location first stimulates conversations about its use during Nazism, my idea is to show the contrast of the space as it was used a hundred years ago and now. Specifically, I would like to show how minorities or specific ethnic groups were treated then and now in Germany, particularly in Weimar. 

I would also like to study how the meaning of the word ‘camp’, which is the word most associated with refugees, has changed over the last hundred years!

I began by looking into what a tent in a refugee camp looks like, and how these living spaces affect the lives of their inhabitants. I then began constructing my own camp site and placed 7 white tents in a circle with red eastern carpets in the middle. A communal clothesline connects the tents and closes the space between the tents, but it was necessary to leave a free space as an entrance and overview. The only entrance is placed in front of the Atrium shopping center with a small metal bridge over underground car parking. For me it was also important to design a composition that could observed from all sides. 

Every detail in this installation has meaning. The group of tents and the placement of the carpets makes a PEACE sign, which illustrates a common desire for refugees to be able to live in relative harmony and feel normal again. The site could also signal air force personnel to understand the site as a respite from war. 

The neutral white color of the tents is like a white flag asking for armistice, and the red patterned carpets identify the camp as eastern. The placement of these red carpets into a walkway symbolizes the long and unfortunately bloody path that has brought these people here. 

There is no sign of life in this space a part from the fact that people have hung their clothes to dry in between the tents.

If you look closer, you see words cut out in the front side of every tent. These are words that are especially important to refugees as they are aspects of their lives that most of them have lost. Words such as, Safety, Home, Family, Peace, Faith, Love and Hope.

In the evening, the installation changes as lights ​​​​​​​turns on inside every tent and these words become more defined in the dark. After a long day these spaces become places to think and especially to reflect before sleep. In the dark, these thoughts and ideas become stronger, and the troubles begin to feel even more significant. In the night is when we miss our loved ones most of all.  My idea with the lights in the dark is based on this. Not only do the words light up in the dark but so does every tent, making the presence of their inhabitants now

The tools used to create this project were 3d modeling and photomontage.  I used metaphors, symbolism and the language of color to tell citizens, students, and tourists about another aspect of the refugee crisis. I endeavored to discuss their hopes and fears, as well as the hard paths in which most of them find themselves. As an artist, I speak a visual language to an audience about current issues and events.