History Art

In memory of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp, 77 years ago on 27 January, the Amsterdam artist Ben Mechanicus (4 May 1963) created a contemporary work of art. By using toy figures from Playmobil in an animation video, he wants to show younger generations what happened there during the war, without making the images too gruesome. “All photos and videos from that period are black and white or grainy. The current generation with its smartphones and video culture does not relate to that. With this animation I wanted to create something visual and impressive for all ages,” says Ben Mechanicus. “I show the whole mechanical process of the extermination of a race, as it was. There is no such thing for young people yet.” According to Mechanicus, an artist has an important, expressive role from a social point of view. “All my ideas, all my social visions of this time, I convert into works of art, causing an interaction around the core of the work,” he says. In an earlier artwork such as ‘The nine of why’ he shamed violence, war, anger and hatred, in his work ‘The right to exist’ anonymous sperm donors. “An insane act,” he says. “How can you withhold half of someone’s existence, past and present?” The Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp was liberated by the Red Army on January 27, 1945. Of the 1.3 million people deported there, about 1.1 million died. The liberation is commemorated all over the world. Mechanicus’ animation video History Art is available for free at https://we.tl/t-ab72exUSKO.