The constellations of Holocaust representation: performative monuments, museums, and survivors? artworks
Gespeichert in:
| Titel: | The constellations of Holocaust representation: performative monuments, museums, and survivors? artworks |
|---|---|
| Autoren: | Hernandez, Allison Michelle (author) |
| Verlagsinformationen: | University of Southern California Digital Library (USC.DL), 2021. |
| Publikationsjahr: | 2021 |
| Schlagwörter: | Roski School of Art and Design (school), Curatorial Practices and the Public Sphere (degree program), Master of Arts (degree) |
| Beschreibung: | Since the emergence of participatory art movements in the 1960?s and 70?s, artists confronting Holocaust commemoration began incorporating performative practices in their work, intent on instilling critical self-awareness in audience members. These performative practices in Holocaust commemoration combine performance-like memorial activities with visitor performance: this relationship is intended to shift individuals from passive witnesses into socially and morally compelled agents of change. This research unpacks the ways in which Holocaust museums, museum architecture, curators, exhibits, and artists incorporate various performative practices to transfer embodied acts of remembrance, increasing public knowledge of the Holocaust. This thesis will also argue the validity of the idea that performative memorials also transmit embodied remembrance through traumatic realism, defined by Michael Rothberg as: utilizing indices of absence that incorporate indirect evocations of victims through metonymic symbols of the possessions that survived them. Through a critical consideration of three public memorials and museums as case studies?Jewish Museum Berlin, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and Museum of the Holocaust Los Angeles?I will also unpack the impact of affect theory in terms of Holocaust commemoration?specifically in terms of the epistemic, ontological, and taxonomic factors in the display of objects. Understanding these qualities of Holocaust representation, it is imperative to ask: what, then, exactly is the intention of these forms of commemoration? This research argues that the overarching intention is to shift embodied participation and memory from the public to the private: from the collective to the individual. ? What are public commemorations of the Holocaust, if not to commemorate the six million Jews and eleven million murdered individuals? Aside from the imaginative and indexical conjuring of the victims through performative memorial remembrance, it is crucial to acknowledge the historicity and individuality of artworks created by actual Holocaust survivors. Artworks created by Holocaust survivors hold a unique place in the fabric of Holocaust commemoration: they are created by the witness?either with or without an intention of commemoration in mind, harboring both aesthetic and historic tendencies. Through the case studies of Holocaust Museums in the US and Europe and their relationship to case studies of Holocaust survivors who identify as artists, this research aims at emphasizing how the public display of private artworks by Holocaust survivors is imperative to Holocaust commemoration. The Holocaust museums explored in this research have sporadically featured temporary exhibitions showcasing artworks made by survivors, but there are very few permanent exhibitions which feature these artworks. With the aforementioned understanding of the role of monuments, museums, and exhibitions as performative practices encouraging individual agents of change, this research argues for the importance of displaying works by individual Holocaust survivors, focusing on the individual within the enormity of the collective. Especially as we move into a post-witness era, the role of Holocaust survivor-created artwork must reserve a space in the wide range of embodied acts of remembrance. |
| Publikationsart: | Thesis |
| Sprache: | English |
| DOI: | 10.25549/usctheses-ouc15719944 |
| Dokumentencode: | edsair.doi...........ea7e4657875a3d9fc34ec4736158051e |
| Datenbank: | OpenAIRE |
Nájsť tento článok vo Web of Science | Abstract: | Since the emergence of participatory art movements in the 1960?s and 70?s, artists confronting Holocaust commemoration began incorporating performative practices in their work, intent on instilling critical self-awareness in audience members. These performative practices in Holocaust commemoration combine performance-like memorial activities with visitor performance: this relationship is intended to shift individuals from passive witnesses into socially and morally compelled agents of change. This research unpacks the ways in which Holocaust museums, museum architecture, curators, exhibits, and artists incorporate various performative practices to transfer embodied acts of remembrance, increasing public knowledge of the Holocaust. This thesis will also argue the validity of the idea that performative memorials also transmit embodied remembrance through traumatic realism, defined by Michael Rothberg as: utilizing indices of absence that incorporate indirect evocations of victims through metonymic symbols of the possessions that survived them. Through a critical consideration of three public memorials and museums as case studies?Jewish Museum Berlin, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and Museum of the Holocaust Los Angeles?I will also unpack the impact of affect theory in terms of Holocaust commemoration?specifically in terms of the epistemic, ontological, and taxonomic factors in the display of objects. Understanding these qualities of Holocaust representation, it is imperative to ask: what, then, exactly is the intention of these forms of commemoration? This research argues that the overarching intention is to shift embodied participation and memory from the public to the private: from the collective to the individual. ? What are public commemorations of the Holocaust, if not to commemorate the six million Jews and eleven million murdered individuals? Aside from the imaginative and indexical conjuring of the victims through performative memorial remembrance, it is crucial to acknowledge the historicity and individuality of artworks created by actual Holocaust survivors. Artworks created by Holocaust survivors hold a unique place in the fabric of Holocaust commemoration: they are created by the witness?either with or without an intention of commemoration in mind, harboring both aesthetic and historic tendencies. Through the case studies of Holocaust Museums in the US and Europe and their relationship to case studies of Holocaust survivors who identify as artists, this research aims at emphasizing how the public display of private artworks by Holocaust survivors is imperative to Holocaust commemoration. The Holocaust museums explored in this research have sporadically featured temporary exhibitions showcasing artworks made by survivors, but there are very few permanent exhibitions which feature these artworks. With the aforementioned understanding of the role of monuments, museums, and exhibitions as performative practices encouraging individual agents of change, this research argues for the importance of displaying works by individual Holocaust survivors, focusing on the individual within the enormity of the collective. Especially as we move into a post-witness era, the role of Holocaust survivor-created artwork must reserve a space in the wide range of embodied acts of remembrance. |
|---|---|
| DOI: | 10.25549/usctheses-ouc15719944 |