In the 1950s, political prisoners were imprisoned in labor camps in the Jáchymov region, where they mined uranium in primitive conditions. They slowly lost their health there due to radioactivity and cruel treatment.
The Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes, headed by historian Jakub Jareš, approached us with the intention of building an exhibition in the Tower of Death, which will be the first step towards making this monument accessible in dignity. Despite the low budget, the exhibition works with a spatial experience and tells a story across the entire building. The exhibition is an intervention in the poor condition of the monument.
After entering the hall, the view is covered by a large cylinder with a half-open entrance. The future is uncertain. You don't see how this story will go on. The interior of the war brings a sense of imprisonment and a look into the faces of former political prisoners - in the form of their investigative identification photograph.
There is only one way out of imprisonment, to the Death Tower hall. In front of the visitor there is a large space with a regular row of columns, a symbol of endless days of work in imprisonment. As he passes, the visitor gathers factual information about the reasons and details of the sad history.
The space is disturbed by a distinctive black tube. The passage raises expectations, tension, anxiety. At the end of the road, a high space opens on the ground floor of the Death Tower. Looking up, pieta, stopping, thinking, one lone chair to rest. The atmosphere is completed by an audio recording of the witness's story.
Witnesses, a forest of panels symbolizing witnesses, look at the story of history from the last part of the hall.
On some visitors the personal statement appears, others are quiet and empty. Memory is disappearing.

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