Latest revision as of 15:17, 11 January 2012

The Man in the Glass Box (1961–2011)

A TRIAL ABOUT THE BANALITY OF EVIL

Court room with Eichmann in the glass booth, 1961

CONCEPT

50 years after the Eichmann trial in Israel took place, the full compendium of more than 400 hours of film footage documenting the trial were released earlier this year on Youtube. In 1961, former SS officer and highest figure in the Nazi hierarchy responsible for facilitating the extermination of European Jewry, was charged and tried with committing crimes against the Jewish people and humanity. The case of multiple controversies was the first telecast of actual courtroom proceedings and was from the beginning conceptualized as a symbolic performance with a special stage design which placed the accused in a bullet-proof glass booth, a film director that made deliberate cinematographic decisions and an international audience that witnessed the trial from the living room. Originally shown as daily newsreels on international television, the trial was performed as a morality play, not surprisingly ending with the death sentence of the accused, which until today remains the only civil execution ever carried out in Israel.

In the installation "The Man in the Glass Box (1961–2011)", the aesthetic and narrative strategies of the trial are made transparent. The proceedings are performed as an audio and video drama in three acts: the appeal, the testimony, and the verdict. From the ceiling 6 headphones are hanging, all sliced in half, of which each presents a disembodied voice of one persona in the proceedings: the accused, the judge, the prosecutor, the defender, a witness, and a political journalist. All voices contribute to the trial from their own perspective, however, only disclose a fraction of the story.

The audio is expanded by a three channel video projection, which likewise disassembles the original film footage. As a result of the required simultaneous translations of the original proceedings from Hebrew (and partly German) into English, French and German, a large part of the footage is showing the silent protagonists of the trial, while a translator – mostly a female voice – is talking for all of them as a voice-over. The artist re-enacts the trial by recreating the silent film scenes of the footage all by herself and is lending her voice to the translator who presents all characters of the play. Thus she is re-narrating the story for the visitors, who can combine the stories, change perspectives and play an active role in the perception of the trial and politics of remembrance.

ACTS

The Appeal
The Testimony
The Verdict

CHARACTERS

The Accused (Eichmann)
The Judge
The Prosecutor
The Defender
A Witness
A Political Journalist

INSTALLATION

Installation set-up with beamer and headphones
WALL (width): 3 m
PROJECTION (width): 2 m
HEADPHONES (width): 1.5 m

PART #1 : Audio

PART #2 : Projection

TECHNICAL SET-UP

SOUND

OK | 1 x mac mini (same for video) > BELONGS TO PZI
OK | 1 x TerraTec Phase 26 (incl. USB cable) > BELONGS TO AYMERIC
OK | 2 x two RCA plugs to 3.5 mm stereo plug > BELONGS TO PZI
OK | 2 x 3.5 mm stereo plug to 6.35 mm stereo plug (1/4" TRS) > BELONGS TO PZI
OK | 2 x Behringer Microamp HA 400 Headphone Amplifier > BELONG TO PZI
OK | 3 x stereo headphones 3m cable and 6.35 mm stereo plug > 1 BELONGS TO NATASA (incl. 1/4" TRS) , 1 TO DANNY (incl. 1/4" TRS), 1 TO PZI (incl. 1/4" TRS)
OK | 1 x power distributor for 4 plugs > BELONGS TO PZI
OK | 1 x 150 cm iron rod with 8 holes > BELONGS TO NATASA

IMAGE

GENERAL

SET-UP INSTRUCTIONS

switch on beamer (resolution 1280 x 800 with 16:10 ratio)
switch on mac mini (should reboot daily by itself)
startup script should start video loop
startup script should satrt audio loop

SCRIPTING

Controlling jack with qjackctl

Running 6 channel mono wav-files with BASH

termianl:~$ ./filename.sh

#!/bin/sh

startjack ()
{
    /usr/bin/jackd -dalsa -dhw:1 -r44100 -p1024 -n2 -o6 &
}

playback ()
{
    ecasound \
        -a:1 -i 1.wav \
        -a:2 -i 2.wav -chmove:1,2 \
        -a:3 -i 3.wav -chmove:1,3 \
        -a:4 -i 1.wav -chmove:1,4 \
        -a:5 -i 2.wav -chmove:1,5 \
        -a:6 -i 3.wav -chmove:1,6 \
        -a:1,2,3,4,5,6 -f:s16,6 -o jack,system
}

while true
do
    if pidof jackd
    then
        playback
    else
        startjack
    fi
done

PROJECT NOTES

Key Words

Leiden mit Leidenschaftlosigkeit versprachlichen
Bilderverbot – kein Bild vom Grauen möglich
Unüberschaubarkeit des Materials
Paradoxon des Zeugens
Creation of Memory
Collective Heardbeat
Erinnerung abspielen
Verfremdungseffekt

Video Samples

[1]

[2]

Dismissed Ideas

Repeatingly reading the testimony of Aveva Fleischmann and running until I can't go on
Same story repeats / doubles / tripples until it gets diffuse and incomprehensible
One voice for all protagonists of the trial (protocolls) > translations > who's speaking? > a story of millions
Telephone (children's play) / Stille Post > memories get difuse, change of certain details
Video gets interrupted by real-estate commercials (like original in 1961)
Image ban > empty (white) tv screens as space for imagination
Nested loops (story within a story) Natasa / Norma Rose / Hanna Arendt / Aveva Fleischmann

LINKS

Youtube Channel - The Eichmann Trial
Transcripts of the Eichmann Trial
Ecasound Documentation
Vim Documentation

This project was brought to you by the GLICKMAN REAL ESTATE CORPORATION.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-=Morality Play=
+=The Man in the Glass Box (1961–2011)=
-ABOUT THE BANALITY OF EVIL
+A TRIAL ABOUT THE BANALITY OF EVIL<br />
 <br />
 <br />
-[[File:eichmann-trial-image.jpg | 750px]]<br />
+[[File:eichmann-trial-image.jpg | 500px]]<br />
+<span style="font-size:8.5pt">
+Court room with Eichmann in the glass booth, 1961
+</span>
+<br />
+<br />
+===CONCEPT===
+years after the Eichmann trial in Israel took place, the full compendium of more than 400 hours of film footage documenting the trial were released earlier this year on Youtube. In 1961, former SS officer and highest figure in the Nazi hierarchy responsible for facilitating the extermination of European Jewry, was charged and tried with committing crimes against the Jewish people and humanity. The case of multiple controversies was the first telecast of actual courtroom proceedings and was from the beginning conceptualized as a symbolic performance with a special stage design which placed the accused in a bullet-proof glass booth, a film director that made deliberate cinematographic decisions and an international audience that witnessed the trial from the living room. Originally shown as daily newsreels on international television, the trial was performed as a morality play, not surprisingly ending with the death sentence of the accused, which until today remains the only civil execution ever carried out in Israel.
+In the installation "The Man in the Glass Box (1961–2011)", the aesthetic and narrative strategies of the trial are made transparent. The proceedings are performed as an audio and video drama in three acts: the appeal, the testimony, and the verdict. From the ceiling 6 headphones are hanging, all sliced in half, of which each presents a disembodied voice of one persona in the proceedings: the accused, the judge, the prosecutor, the defender, a witness, and a political journalist. All voices contribute to the trial from their own perspective, however, only disclose a fraction of the story.
+The audio is expanded by a three channel video projection, which likewise disassembles the original film footage. As a result of the required simultaneous translations of the original proceedings from Hebrew (and partly German) into English, French and German, a large part of the footage is showing the silent protagonists of the trial, while a translator – mostly a female voice – is talking for all of them as a voice-over. The artist re-enacts the trial by recreating the silent film scenes of the footage all by herself and is lending her voice to the translator who presents all characters of the play. Thus she is re-narrating the story for the visitors, who can combine the stories, change perspectives and play an active role in the perception of the trial and politics of remembrance.
+<br />
+=====ACTS=====
+The Appeal<br />
+The Testimony<br />
+The Verdict<br />
+=====CHARACTERS=====
+The Accused (Eichmann)<br />
+The Judge<br />
+The Prosecutor<br />
+The Defender<br />
+A Witness<br />
+A Political Journalist<br />
 <br />
-===Introduction from Essay===
+===INSTALLATION===
+<br />
+[[File:DSC_3592b.jpg | 500px]]<br /><br />
+[[File:DSC_3699b.jpg | 500px]]<br /><br />
 <span style="font-size:8.5pt">
-At five, at exactly five... Hattie and I sit before the TV and we become a silent movie... .
+Installation set-up with beamer and headphones<br />
-A small-faced man narrates. His voice weak and light. An advertisement disguised as not an
+WALL (width): 3 m<br />
-advertisement from a Jewish real-estate firm. None of that seems to matter. I begin to sweat.
+PROJECTION (width): 2 m<br />
-My heart pounds. . . . We sit on hard kitchen chairs drawn up before the TV, watching.
+HEADPHONES (width): 1.5 m<br />
-As if putting ourselves to school. The eyewitnesses, their faces designed into masks,
+</span>
-wrinkled... . Their voices, in translation, disembodied. There is something... about the
+<br />
-way we both move ― or don’t move―while we are watching. Hattie and I are an experimental,
-silent film reacting to a film on TV. The old speeded-up, slowed-down, silent film.
-― Norma Rosen, Touching Evil</span>
+=====PART #1 : Audio=====
+<br />
+EICHMANN (line out 3) | DEFENSE (line out 4) | JUDJE (line out 1) | PROSECUTION (line out 2) | WITTNESS (line out 5) | ARENDT (line out 6)<br />
+<br />
-The experience of witnessing the war crimes trial of Adolf Eichmann described in Norma Rosen's novel "Touching Evil" is one shared by many others. In 1961, Eichmann, former SS officer and highest ranking figure in the Nazi hierarchy responsible for facilitating mass deportation and the extermination of European Jewry, was charged and tried before an Israeli court with committing crimes against the Jewish people and humanity. The case of multiple controversies was the first telecast of actual courtroom proceedings and with the distribution to many countries reached an international audience. Especially in America, the trial was daily broadcasted over a period of several months, thereby inscribing and framing the collective memory.
+=====PART #2 : Projection=====
+<br />
+[[File:Screanshot_Video_Eichmann-20110625-1.png | 900px]]
+<br />
+<br />
+[[File:Screanshot_Video_Eichmann-20110625-2.png | 900px]]
+<br />
+<br />
+[[File:Screanshot_Video_Eichmann-20110625-5.png | 300px]]
+<br />
+<br />
+[[File:Screanshot_Video_Eichmann-20110625-6.png | 300px]]
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+===TECHNICAL SET-UP===
+[[File:exhibition-setup_natasa.jpg | 650px]]
+<br />
+<br />
+======SOUND======
+OK | 1 x mac mini (same for video)<span style="font-size:6pt"> > BELONGS TO PZI</span><br />
+OK | 1 x TerraTec Phase 26 (incl. USB cable)<span style="font-size:6pt"> > BELONGS TO AYMERIC</span><br />
+OK | 2 x two RCA plugs to 3.5 mm stereo plug<span style="font-size:6pt"> > BELONGS TO PZI</span><br />
+OK | 2 x 3.5 mm stereo plug to 6.35 mm stereo plug (1/4" TRS)<span style="font-size:6pt"> > BELONGS TO PZI</span><br />
+OK | 2 x Behringer Microamp HA 400 Headphone Amplifier<span style="font-size:6pt"> > BELONG TO PZI</span><br />
+OK | 3 x stereo headphones 3m cable and 6.35 mm stereo plug<span style="font-size:6pt"> > 1 BELONGS TO NATASA (incl. 1/4" TRS) , 1 TO DANNY (incl. 1/4" TRS), 1 TO PZI (incl. 1/4" TRS)</span><br />
+OK | 1 x power distributor for 4 plugs<span style="font-size:6pt"> > BELONGS TO PZI</span><br />
+OK | 1 x 150 cm iron rod with 8 holes<span style="font-size:6pt"> > BELONGS TO NATASA</span><br />
+======IMAGE======
+OK | 1 x mac mini (same for audio)<span style="font-size:6pt"> > BELONGS TO PZI</span><br />
+OK | 1 x HD beamer Hitachi CPWX3011N 1280 x 800 px (16:10)<span style="font-size:6pt"> > BELONGS TO PZI</span><br />
+MISSING | remote control for beamer<span style="font-size:6pt"> > BELONGS TO PZI</span><br />
+OK | 1 x DVI cable for beamer<span style="font-size:6pt"> > BELONGS TO PZI</span><br />
+OK | 1 x beamer mount<span style="font-size:6pt"> > RENTAL</span><br />
-From the very beginning the trial was conceptualized as a symbolic performance, supported not only by the staged design of the courtroom, cinematographic aesthetics of the film footage, but also by the role the audience was given. The morally charged act of witnessing the trial as a drama, became a formative role in establishing the Shoah as part of collective history. As Hans Kellner describes: "Creating a reader for the Holocaust has been the work of writers, artists, filmmakers, poets, and historians since the end of the war." (Shandler, 1999) However, the explicit staging of the trial as a morality play also leads to the question wether the Shoah can or should have an aesthetic dimension?
+======GENERAL======
+OK | mdf plate<br />
+OK | steel wire<br />
+OK | steel clips<br />
+OK | hooks and anchors<br />
+extension cable<br />
+OK | power distributor<br />
+OK | cable strap<br />
+OK | gaffer tape<br />
+<br />
-Reflecting on the performative nature of the Eichmann trial Susan Sontag argues that tragedy has become "a form of history. Dramatists no longer write tragedies. But we do possess works of art (not always recognized as such) which reflect or attempt to resolve the great historical tragedies of our time. […] As the supreme tragic event of modern times is the murder of the six million European Jews, one of the most interesting and moving works of art of the past ten years is the trial of Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem in 1961." (Shandler, 1999)
+======SET-UP INSTRUCTIONS======
+switch on beamer (resolution 1280 x 800 with 16:10 ratio)<br />
+switch on mac mini (should reboot daily by itself)<br />
+startup script should start video loop<br />
+startup script should satrt audio loop<br />
+<br />
-Adorno's well-known comment from 1949, that "writing poetry after Auschwitz is barbaric", was answered by the German theater maker Peter Weiss by re-enacting parts of the so-called Auschwitz trials from 1963 to 1965 in Frankfurt am Main in his play "The Investigation".  Premiered in 1965, Weiss uses the performative nature of trials in general and utilizes the documents as protocols, files, letters, statistics and interviews as his source material. Whereas the Eichmann trial was deliberately conceptualized as a symbolic performance with a highly theatrical approach, the documentary theater "attempted to renounce as comprehensively as possible all fictionalization in drama" (Wüst, 2005).
+===SCRIPTING===
+=====Controlling jack with qjackctl=====
+[[File:Screenshot-jack.png | 550px]]<br /><br />
-In the following essay both cases shall be discussed further to examine narrative and aesthetic strategies in the representation of the Shoah, reflecting the impact of mediation on the creation of moral and memory, considering the trial as a form of dramaturgy.
+=====Running 6 channel mono wav-files with BASH=====
+termianl:~$ ./filename.sh
+<source lang="python">
+#!/bin/sh
-===Concept===
+startjack ()
+{
+    /usr/bin/jackd -dalsa -dhw:1 -r44100 -p1024 -n2 -o6 &
+}
+playback ()
+{
+    ecasound \
+        -a:1 -i 1.wav \
+        -a:2 -i 2.wav -chmove:1,2 \
+        -a:3 -i 3.wav -chmove:1,3 \
+        -a:4 -i 1.wav -chmove:1,4 \
+        -a:5 -i 2.wav -chmove:1,5 \
+        -a:6 -i 3.wav -chmove:1,6 \
+        -a:1,2,3,4,5,6 -f:s16,6 -o jack,system
+}
-Norma Rose
+while true
-Hannah Arendt
+do
-Aveva Fleischmann
+    if pidof jackd
+    then
+        playback
+    else
+        startjack
+    fi
+done
+</source>
+<br />
+<br />
-===Project Description===
+===PROJECT NOTES===
+=====Key Words=====
+Leiden mit Leidenschaftlosigkeit versprachlichen<br />
+Bilderverbot – kein Bild vom Grauen möglich<br />
+Unüberschaubarkeit des Materials<br />
+Paradoxon des Zeugens<br />
+Creation of Memory<br />
+Collective Heardbeat<br />
+Erinnerung abspielen<br />
+Verfremdungseffekt<br />
+=====Video Samples=====
+[[File:trial-test-video_screenshot02-bw.png | 400px]]
+[http://vimeo.com/25148486]
+[[File:trial-test-video_screenshot03-bw.png | 400px]]
+[http://vimeo.com/25149010]
+<br />
+<br />
+=====Dismissed Ideas=====
+Repeatingly reading the testimony of Aveva Fleischmann and running until I can't go on<br />
+Same story repeats / doubles / tripples until it gets diffuse and incomprehensible<br />
+One voice for all protagonists of the trial (protocolls) > translations > who's speaking? > a story of millions<br />
+Telephone (children's play) / Stille Post > memories get difuse, change of certain details<br />
+Video gets interrupted by real-estate commercials (like original in 1961)<br />
+Image ban > empty (white) tv screens as space for imagination<br />
+Nested loops (story within a story) Natasa / Norma Rose / Hanna Arendt / Aveva Fleischmann
+<br />
+<br />
+===LINKS===
+<span style="font-size:8pt">
+[http://www.youtube.com/user/EichmannTrialEN Youtube Channel - The Eichmann Trial]<br />
+[http://www.nizkor.org/hweb/people/e/eichmann-adolf/transcripts Transcripts of the Eichmann Trial]<br />
+[http://eca.cx/ecasound/Documentation/users_guide/html_uguide/users_guide.html#htoc20 Ecasound Documentation]<br />
+[http://vimdoc.sourceforge.net/htmldoc/ Vim Documentation]<br />
+</span>
+<br />
+<br />
+=====<i>This project was brought to you by the GLICKMAN REAL ESTATE CORPORATION.</i>=====

User:Natasa Siencnik/project3: Difference between revisions