In Place of Death

In Place of Death is an experimental film that uses an observational cinematic style to investigate the way people interact with an iconic urban site. It explores the spatial relationship and integration of the first SS state concentration camp within the fabric of the picturesque Bavarian town of Dachau, and its larger neighbour Munich. The film focuses firmly on the present as it observes streams of visitors to the camp, now a popular tourist attraction with 800,000 people visiting annually. As exemplified by scenes of couples coming to the camp for a picnic or posing their children in front of the ovens, this is a film about human behavior and the way individuals relate to space and the stature and meaning of place. The film grew out of a video installation project, entitled, Beautiful Dachau (2006), first shown at the TRANS visual culture exhibition in Madison, Wisconsin in Sept. 2006, with screenings at Harvard, Princeton and other universities and conferences in the US and UK. The film forms part of the In Time of Place research project.