This project focuses on three listed historic buildings on the grounds of the Citadel: the former laboratory building, now the Gerd Steinmöller Artists’ House; the former Institute of Toxicology on Brandenburg Bastion; and the gas-testing room at the Italian Courtyards. During the Nazi era, all three played an important role in the activities of the Wehrmacht’s military gas protection laboratories located here.
For this project, the artist georgia Krawiec (*1972 in Kędzierzyn, Poland) has developed three optical devices known as camerae obscurae, which point to the dark history of these buildings. Despite extensive historical research, many questions about their use remain unanswered – due to a lack of historical investigation, a shortage of willing contemporary witnesses, and limited access to documents and archives.
Looking into a camera obscura, visitors encounter something unexpected: the image of the toxic heritage building appears upside down. They are invited to look more closely, to consider art through the lens of history and history through the lens of art, but also to reflect on the past, reconsider it, and rethink the way we view historic monuments.
The largest camera obscura focuses on the Artists’ House. The artist has a particular connection to this building, having found both her studio and a creative home here. During the Nazi era, it housed the core of the Wehrmacht’s military gas protection laboratories: the Institute for the Synthesis and Analysis of Chemical Warfare Agents.
By deliberately positioning the camerae obscurae throughout the grounds of the Citadel, the project invites visitors to search for other projections of historically charged buildings and to experience art at the intersection of history, architecture, and individual perspective.
