Using a 1:1 scale, the DRESDEN 1945 panorama takes you on a journey back in time to the immediate aftermath of the Allied bombing raids in 1945. The 15-metre-high visitor’s tower provides you with a 360-degree view from the tower of Dresden’s Town Hall and reveals the extent of the destruction in the panorama. Amid the apocalyptic landscape of ruins, human victims and survivors covered in dust, seeking refuge, are discernible.
The project does not merely show the tragedy of Dresden, but uses several pillars to draw attention to the interactions of Europe’s war-torn history. Furthermore, artist Yadegar Asisi addresses the fatal interdependencies of war. By 1945, many German cities were destroyed, but so was a large number of other European cities, such as Rotterdam, Coventry, Stalingrad and Warsaw. Those numerous cities are thematised with photos on 16 steles in the exhibition room.
In addition, the panorama serves as a reminder of the importance of objecting war, facism, nationalism, and revanchism. With the aspect of hope, Yadegar Asisi addresses mankind’s continuous will to survive that follows every devastation and continues to show itself in the urban landscape of the rebuilt city, in the accompanying exhibition. For Asisi, Dresden’s history serves as a representation: Construction and distruction, splendour and demise, high culture and human abysses are global mechanisms.
