Der Stein zu Wörlitz

Filmed on 16mm with an accompanying score by Swiss composer Martin Perret, Der Stein zu Wörlitz or German Vesuvius, is a wordless meditation on a UNESCO World Heritage site that lies uncomfortably in the Uncanny Valley. This film documents the final eruption using pyrotechnics, as it damaged the structure. This pyrotechnic display was researched by the Technical University of Berlin to be a near exact replica to the original used by Leopold III Friedrich Franz to wow his illustrious spectators including Gogol and Goethe. This class structure has been carefully replicated as well, with the costumed characters entertaining the persons on the boat who have each paid $500 euros. Under communist rule, the stone structure fell to disrepair. Following this neglect and the gradual deterioration of the complex, the "Felseninsel Stein" was restored from 1999 at a cost of around 7.5 million euros.