Erik Van Loon
Art Change The World

A VICTIM'S PERSPECTIVE
A Victim's Perspective | Grand Theft Tom Tom

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In “A Victim’s Perspective” you can experience the 64 km (40 miles) route from Oswiecim to Wodzislaw which 58.000 prisoners had to march from 17 till 21 January 1945. Ten days before the Allies (Red Army) liberated the abandoned camp Auschwitz.

Oswiecim -Wodzislaw

During 11 hours you will see most of the time not worth mentioning trains, birds, trees, houses, bridges and streets which the survivors probably saw and perhaps remember from their horrifying hardship. The details together mould an ineffaceable experience.

This video work takes 11 hours as Erik Van Loon doesn't want to derealize¹ what happened, by cutting time or even worse by reordering time. Although I know that most people, especially men, think binary and that they are only interested in cause (0) and effect (1) and not in the crucial information in between which is necessary to feel and think.

So in "A Victim’s Perspective" the details shape together the concrete of this artwork. This means that visitors have to make their own cut when they see "A Victim’s Perspective". Some will cut by walking in and out, by reading a book and others by watching everything. Although, it is not really important to watch everything because "A Victim’s Perspective" is like the painting "Guernica" from Picasso. Nobody will watch 300 hours to watch the painting as it took to paint.

Furthermore “A Victim’s Perspective” has no audio. Like part “Alone” of freedom ballet FREE this work has no audio as I want to give the viewer the opportunity to create their own unique Audio-experience ²⁾: music, crying, talking, guns, breath, birds, etc when they watch "A Victim’s Perspective".

1) To derealize is a concept of the philosopher Paul Virilio. He is the writer of one of my favourite books called "War and Cinema - Logistic of perception". In this book he discusses the influence of film on our perception.
2) People will have their own unique Audio-experience (Muzik-erlebnis) when they see "A Victim’s Perspective". The same as everybody visualize and dance differently when they listen to the same song

Videostills

At least one billion people have seen pictures of Auschwitz. A few thousand of them may have seen pictures from the beginning and the end of the Auschwitz death march. But how many people have actually seen the crucial information in between which is necessary to feel and think?

Dag 1

Dag 2