Living Death Camps

Forensic Architecture

The Living Death Camps Project by Forensic Architecture combines terrestrial laser scanning with ground penetrating radar to dissect the layers of life and evidence at two concentration camp sites in former Yugoslavia. Working with Forensic Architecture and forensic archaeologist Caroline Sturdy-Colls, the project looks to explore the relationship between the two sites and the problems associated with commemorating their histories.

3D scanning captured the interior of the infamous White House, part of the Omarska camp in Bosnia active during the recent Balkans conflict. Scanning also captured its politically charged contemporary surroundings: the Prijedor mine owned by steel giant ArcelorMittal. On the outskirts of Belgrade, Serbia, terrestrial scanning combined with ground penetrating radar maps the current surfaces and historical traces of the Staro Sajmište camp used by the Nazis in World War II and currently under plans to be ‘restored’ into a holocaust memorial site.

Through a shared method of analysis and visualisation the project starts to disassemble the traditional archaeological paradigm of prioritising one period of history over another.

The Living Death Camps project forms part of the European Research Council-funded project hosted by the Centre for Research Architecture, Goldsmiths University of London and forms part of the exhibition FORENSIS at Haus der Kulteren der Welt, Berlin in March 2014.

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Surface elevation imaging of an area surrounding the Yugoslav Pavilion
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A view of the central tower with GPR
A sectional perspective of the area surrounding the German Pavilion
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Perspective plan of the White House, Omarska Camp, Bosnia