itourist?

This is a selection of billboard mock-ups produced by ^©Paul Antick and Syd Shelton at graphicsi. In December 2006 five billboards will go up at each of the following locations: between Prague and Terezin in the Czech Republic; North London; and Southampton, UK.

Altogether fifteen 10×20ft billboards will be simultaneously installed across three different cities in November 2006.

The billboard images are in full colour and consciously play on the codes and conventions of fashion / documentary and holiday snap shot photography. In contrast to conventional holocaust iconography, the photographs visually reference an array of relatively benign objects – wooden carts, light industrial complexes, lakes, fields etc., none of which ostensibly refer to acts of violence. The location of each image is designated by text which explicitly anchors the image to a specific place; Auschwitz-Birkenau, Chelmno, Sobibor, Belzec, Madjanak, Wannsee or Terezin. In contrast to the sombre tones and colour schemes characteristic of conventional holocaust iconography, the billboards are brightly coloured and reference the language of commodity aesthetics. This deliberately cements the link between the idea of holocaust tourism and the commodity form. Colour is, however, deployed in other ways. Each billboard includes a block of one of the seven colours used by the Nazis to designate different categories of camp prisoner: yellow=jew; pink=homosexual etc.

The location of the billboards is important. Each site is of particular relevance: Hackney and Southampton in the UK (both home to significant Jewish populations) and Terezin in the Czech republic (formerly Theresienstadt concentration camp and now one of the most popular holocaust ‘attractions’ in eastern Europe).

The billboards will carry the project’s web site address on which will be hosted a live, moderated blog. Audiences will be invited to blog their responses to the campaign at this website. The blogging facility will be available between November 2006 – January 2007.

In addition to the billboard dimension of i-tourist? the John Hansard Gallery will host a symposium on Holocaust tourism in mid-December.

For more information go to billboard sites.