Andreas Diefenbach created his Place of Memory in his imagination. He spent the first 13 years of his life in northern Kazakhstan. Later, he would chart his own path between the primordial wilderness of central Asia and European civilization. His uncle lived near Lake Baikal. When he visited, his uncle told him about ice fishing, hunting, and searching for mushrooms in the taiga. Hearing these stories, Andreas imagined a freezing-cold landscape full of adventure. The frozen expanses surrounding Lake Baikal became a canvas for his fantasy. He loves frost, snow and ice. For him, snow symbolizes warmth and familiarity, and frost and ice express something incredibly clear and calm. Even today, he says, he has his own personal memories of this place, even though he has never actually visited the
taiga.