Auschwitz - Ultima Ratio of the Modern Age

According to a duo of photographers Bernd and Hilla Becher, the form of the industrial construction is determined only by its function. The designing logic of the architecture in the concentration camp Auschwitz was, that the forms of the buildings were absolutely subordinated to their function as instruments of the industrial genocide. So, this architecture is a pure realization of Louis Sullivans principle of the modern: „form follows function“. In this context Zygmunt Bauman also pointed out that „the modern civilization [...] certainly was not the only one, but was probably a necessary precondition for the Holocaust“ (Zygmunt Bauman, Modernity and The Holocaust). The typological examination of the buildings and the objects in this photographic cycle should enable the spectator to compare rationalization methods in an architecture designed for efficient mass killing. All photographs were taken on the 4x5 inch b&w negativs and are 34x45cm ultrachrome prints on baryta paper.