• DAS IST NICHT KALB – Rocco Alberico

    Date posted: May 1, 2006 Author: jolanta

    DAS IST NICHT KALB

    Rocco Alberico
    In

    September of 2003, I was invited to show at the Berliner Kunstprojekt in Germany.
    My wife and I decided to extend the trip to take in the cities of Dresden in
    eastern Germany and Prague in the Czech Republic. What I assumed would be a
    pleasant European vacation, became a disturbing and fascinating journey which
    I’m still grappling with four months later. �

    While
    in Berlin, I became absorbed by the city’s notorious history which is difficult
    to avoid since remnants of its Nazi and post-war past are everywhere in evidence.
    Outside the city in the suburb of Oranienburg, we visited the site of the Sachsenhausen
    Concentration Camp which is now a memorial park. While in Prague, we took a
    day trip to Theresienstadt, a camp built on the site of a medieval walled city.
    �

    Both
    of these visits had a profound and haunting effect on me and the current crop
    of pieces I’m working on now. I took hundreds of photographs in different formats
    to be used as reference and in the sculptures themselves. Here are some of the
    shots I took along with some images of a work in progress called "Das ist Nicht
    Kalb" (That is Not Veal).
    Image

    1. DAS IST KALB, 2. ARBEIT MACHT FREI, 3. DAS IST NICT KALB COMPOSITE, 4. RENTAL CAR FROM HELL
    In
    September of 2003, I was invited to show at the Berliner Kunstprojekt in Germany.
    My wife and I decided to extend the trip to take in the cities of Dresden in
    eastern Germany and Prague in the Czech Republic. What I assumed would be a
    pleasant European vacation, became a disturbing and fascinating journey which
    I’m still grappling with four months later. �

    While
    in Berlin, I became absorbed by the city’s notorious history which is difficult
    to avoid since remnants of its Nazi and post-war past are everywhere in evidence.
    Outside the city in the suburb of Oranienburg, we visited the site of the Sachsenhausen
    Concentration Camp which is now a memorial park. While in Prague, we took a
    day trip to Theresienstadt, a camp built on the site of a medieval walled city.
    �

    Both
    of these visits had a profound and haunting effect on me and the current crop
    of pieces I’m working on now. I took hundreds of photographs in different formats
    to be used as reference and in the sculptures themselves. Here are some of the
    shots I took along with some images of a work in progress called "Das ist Nicht
    Kalb" (That is Not Veal). �

    DAS
    IST NICHT KALB

    This
    sculpture, a work in progress, is based on a guard tower at the entrance to
    Auschwitz. It is constructed out of plywood and tentatively held together with
    masking tape and glue. There is a 3D stereo viewer mounted in the rear with
    an image as yet to be determined. It will probably be mounted on stilts, standing
    approximately 5′ tall when completed. �

    RENTAL
    CAR FROM HELL

    This
    black Mercedes (1/24 scale model) is an exact replica of the one we rented on
    our trip. Unwieldy and sluggish, it seemed to have a mind of it’s own. When
    we tried to enter the Czech Republic we were stopped by German border guards
    who informed us that rental cars are not permitted to leave the country. This
    diorama will be placed into the interior of the piece. �

    DAS
    IST NICHT KALB COMPOSITE

    This
    composite, constructed in Photoshop, is essentially a sketch of what the piece
    might look like placed in a landscape photographed in Staatsburg, New York.
     

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