Nazi camp used for nude pics
2007-02-18 19:35
Vienna - Accusations of "extraordinary bad taste were levelled on Sunday after details emerged of an Austrian designer snapping nude photos at a former Nazi concentration camp.
The woman used the memorial site at the former Mauthausen death camp as backdrop for nude photos of herself, the news magazine Profil wrote in its latest edition.
The photos - shot in the late 1990s - show the woman naked and in sensual poses in front of a camp watchtower and before a sculpture depicting a dying soldier.
Profil quoted the woman - whom it did not name in its initial reports - as saying the photos were an "artistic thought experiment".
She justified the photo-shoot by saying she worked on a project at an art school, doing a poster series for a humanitarian NGO and the photos were used for "brainstorming".
Prison walls and barbed wire
She needed scenes with prison walls and barbed wire and "by coincidence" discovered Mauthausen had what she needed.
However, the provocative project was never realised, she said.
Actually shooting the photos had been easy, she added. Naked beneath her coat, she simply shed it when necessary and had her photographer snap the pictures.
While Austrian police said the actions would not be considered a criminal offence, initial public reaction spoke of "extraordinarily bad taste" and little sensitivity for the victims of Nazi crimes.
On a website discussing the story, users spoke of "boundless stupidity", and "some people can only get attention by offending others".
Others discussed the boundaries of provocative art. - Sapa-dpa
- SAPA