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22 Jan 2020
Studio Roosegaarde create glowing stone Holocaust memorial
By Stu Robarts
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Levenslicht was created in recognition of the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz on 27 January 2020
Photo: Daan Roosegaarde
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A temporary memorial for victims of the Holocaust, designed by Studio Roosegaarde, is on display in the Netherlands, with 104,000 luminescent stones representing each one of the country's victims.
Levenslicht (literally "Lifelight") was created for the National Committee for 4 and 5 May, a Dutch authority for war monuments and memorials, in recognition of the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz on 27 January 2020.
Studio Roosegaarde explained: "The purpose of the light monument is to raise awareness that Jews, Roma and Sinti lived throughout the Netherlands and that the people who were persecuted, deported and murdered during the Second World War were locals or neighbours."
Stones were used as the basis for the installation due to their importance in Jewish memorial tradition and in Roma and Sinti culture.
The stones are treated with fluorescent pigments and light up under ultraviolet (UV) light. Varying UV intensity results in the independently varying brightness of each of the stones, reminiscent of the breath and life of the individuals they represent.
Having initially been presented in Rotterdam on 16 January, the memorial was split for presenting concurrently in different locations around the Netherlands, between 22 January and 2 February, creating a shared experience and reinforcing the ubiquity of loss that there was across the country.
“It is an honour to be asked for this project and to be able to make a public light monument to remember the Holocaust," said Daan Roosegaarde, artist and founder of Studio Roosegaarde. "Levenslicht is a place for everyone where we remember the past, but also think about what the future may look like."
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