Crossing Time

Silhouettes move slowly over trees, walls and wired fences. Step by step, person after person. Until the visitors are completely surrounded by a revolving carousel of an endless procession.

Crossing Time is a spatial installation in which not only the traumatic war years but also the current zeitgeist are captured in a sober carousel of video projections, light and sound. The artwork, about excluding people, was made for the outdoor area of ​​National Monument Kamp Vught, a former concentration camp where more than 31.000 people were imprisoned during the war.

In this installation, visitors are given time to fill in the empty spaces with their own thoughts and imaginations, and to draw connections between the past and the present. Emphasizing the power of imagination, which always happens when people are visiting National Monument Kamp Vught. By changing position, the visitors themselves determine the role they want to take. Just looking away is not an option.

Crossing Time is created in collaboration with light designer Isabel Nielen and audio composer Joost van Dijk. Commissioned by Brabant Remembers and Artifex, celebrating 75 years of freedom. Beeldjutters filmed 80 performers and extras for the endless procession of silhouettes.

“It was dead quiet. That says a lot. When you see your own shadow reflected on the wall, it seems as if you are being transported yourself. You can easily imagine what it was like for those people at the time, but also for the refugees now. The uncertainty, what will happen? The world is on fire. We should reflect on that.”
– Alfons (visitor)

“We went as a family. My children found it very impressive, just like us. We still had a very long journey back. A very quiet return journey. But it was well worth the effort.”
– Anja (visitor)

“I found it very impressive to stand among the silhouettes. The images, music and movement make you pause for a moment. The idea that all those people; big, small, old, young, fast, slow, walking by with or without a suitcase, it hits you. Highly recommended to visit!”
– Nanda (visitor)