For the BAB 2022, Vadim Zakharov has created a newly commissioned installation where visitors enter a darkened space through three huge archival folders, on which is written “Scream not to forget the Past; Scream to understand the Present; Sing so you don’t see chaos in the Future”. The only source of illumination is a giant “Angels’ Trompette”flower, hanging from the ceiling in the middle of the room.

The louder people shout (or sing) once inside, the stronger and brighter the light source becomes, illuminating the wallpaper and blurred photographs within the space. Both are based on images taken by Zakharov inside the chimney chambers of the German concentration camp of Sachsenhausen, which he visited on January 18, 2019. They feature the patterns in the concrete floors formed by the temperature extremes in and around the incinerators. The artist describes a kind of haunting, ghostly, ornamental ‘living’ carpet, which only a few visitors seemed to notice as they walked on it.