Mapping War Through Climbing: Pavel Rotts Turns Bomb Scars Into Rock Walls
Artist Pavel Rotts transforms war-damaged architecture into a public climbing wall, allowing visitors to experience history through physical movement.
Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event
- Pavel Rotts creates climbing walls cast from actual war-damaged buildings.
- The Climbing a Memory installation runs at Forum Box in Helsinki from August 7th to September 27th, 2026.
- The project turns craters and broken architectural ornaments into functional climbing holds.
- The work originally debuted in Narva, Estonia, back in 2024 during sensitive historical commemorations.
Pavel Rotts has merged historical scars with the functional language of rock climbing, utilizing bright color-coding systems borrowed from indoor climbing gyms. For his larger installations, he collaborates with professional route setters such as Felix Damsky of KiipeilyAreena, ensuring that every route accommodates the natural movement of the human body across the wall.
Visitors frequently start by discussing the tactile nature of the holds, only for the conversation to quickly evolve. According to Rotts, people begin talking about different types of war damage, recalling scars left in other parts of the city or repaired sites where traces have vanished, giving these discussions a physical starting point through fingertips and shifting weight.
This project illustrates how public art can bridge sensitive historical narratives by transforming abstract trauma into tangible, interactive experiences. By engaging the body rather than just the intellect, memorial projects like this encourage community dialogue in environments dealing with complex political pasts.
Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event
The project is now heading to Helsinki, where casts taken from war-damaged architecture will form a public climbing installation across the facade of Forum Box from August 7th to September 27th, 2026. The resin holds meticulously reproduce craters and missing fragments from buildings that residents often walk past without noticing, turning destruction into a sequence of athletic movements.
When Climbing a Memory first opened in Narva in 2024, it entered a politically charged environment as part of the 80th-anniversary program marking the devastating March Bombing of 1944. Although other commemorative events drew hostility from pro-Russian audiences, the interactive wall successfully engaged the public without becoming a focal point for conflict.
Source: designboom
Found something wrong in this article? Report an issue with this article
Comments
Leave a Comment