A shot of a few buildings in the middle of nowhere, and then the camera delves deep into exotic, luxuriant vegetation. We are in Tropical Islands, a leisure complex near Krausnick, a village 70 kilometres south of Berlin on the site of a former Soviet airbase. At this very spot, moving from one affectation to the next, the upheavals of the last century pile up like so much sediment. Europe's scars and contradictions, its mindscape, its dreams and illusions.