VANITAS. - A PLACE OF REMEMBRANCE

VANITAS is a memorial evolved around the subjects of perishability, ephermerality and rememberance, and depicts the sculptural interpretation of these topics. 

Inspired by the many "Spomeniks" in former Yugoslavia a transreligious, multiethnic memorial was designed. Those abstract monuments which were built during the Tito-era are not only war memorials, but also places of grief and furthermore used for political events and activism. Those sculptural monuments, which are situated in untouched natural landscapes, are substantially defi ned by their arrangement of pathways as part of the concept.

Likewise to the "Spomenik" monument's inherent intricacies VANITAS' complex identity is perceived, located at the foot of Dachstein's glacier snout. Derived from a random array of scattered pieces, shapes of rooms were contrived and carved into the rock mass. A multidimensional place of memorial was created by forming imprints on the landscape and connecting underground paths.

The natural geological transformations on a glacier, accelerated by consequences from global warming, are constantly changing the memorial site's landscape and are therefore part of the concept, representing the transience and impermanence within memories.

A crucial part of the design process was the construction of models, working with plaster and silicone casting moulds to produce imprints and replicas.