Pond / Auschwitz I, 2010 (excerpt)
Running time: 1:25 minutes / HD / colour

Auschwitz, May 2010. Reflections of trees are transformed by rain falling on pond in Auschwitz II, Birkenau.

Camera: Sylvia Safdie
Editing: Patrick Andrew Boivin, Sylvia Safdie
Audio: Silent

Due to heavy rains, the section of the camp known as the Birkenau Ash Pond was closed to visitors. On the last day of our visit, we snuck into the section of the camp known as the Birkenau Ash Pond. It is in this pond that the ashes of many tens of thousands of people, who were gassed at Crematorium IV were dumped. While I was there, I started to film the reflection of the trees in the pond when all of a sudden, it started to rain. As the rain built up the images of the reflections of the trees started to transform and within seconds, were totally erased to reveal raindrops ferociously hitting the surface of the water. This footage became Pond/Auschwitz.

“Shot during the artist’s first visit to the site of the eponymous concentration camp, the works focus on natural phenomena found in the camp’s surroundings. As a result of uncharacteristically heavy rainfalls at that time, much of the site was flooded. This seeming liability ultimately inspired the artist to work with the water, utilizing its surface, raindrops and reflections to speak of the “absent present.” (1)

(1) Erick Lewis, in his book The Video Work of Sylvia Safdie, McGill-Queen University Press, 2013, writes about the Auschwitz series pg.70 – pg. 114.

This video was shown in the exhibition The Absent Present, Prefix, Toronto, in 2014.