Concept: English
Draft Title: SHOAH
–>Introduction
The Cologne based media artist Wilfried Agricola de Cologne realized between 1993 and 1998 his artistic memorial project, entitled: A Living Memorial – Memorial project against the Forgetting, Racism, Xenophobia and Antisemitism
–> http://www.a-virtual-memorial.org/bubis/documentation.htm Standing under the patronage of Ignatz Bubis, the late President of the Central Jewish Counicil of Germany,
–> http://www.a-virtual-memorial.org/bubis/inmemoriam.htm -
the project was exhibited since 1995 in 43 exhibition installations in Poland (a.o. Auschwitz, Majdanek, Krakow), Czech Republic (Terezin) and Germany (a.o. Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne, Hannover, Leipzig).
After Agricola de Cologne had decided in 2000 to concentrate his artistic work exclusively on new media, he continued the concept of commemorating, among others in his Internet based media art project, entitled: „A Virtual Memorial – Memorial Project against The Forgetting and for Humanity” www.a-virtual-memorial.org - as an ongoing project until these days. Like not many other artists, Agricola de Cologne is practicing the idea of commemorating as a basic motivation for creating contemporary art by using new media, whereby the aspect of videoart has a particular relevance y in his work as an artist, as well as a curator in the field of media art.
The exhibition project
–>historical context
The fall of the Berlin Wall (1989) was an epoch-making event in many concerns. All experts agree, without the fall, the Holocaust and its history, the genocide on European Jews, but also Sinti and Roma and other people persecuted by the Nazis, would have been forgotten, because sometimes the last survivors would have died, and authentic remembering via touchable and perceivable documents would have been handed down. The falling wall in Berlin changed the situation to the contrary, because the memorial camps in Eastern Germany and Europe became accessible to many visitors causing a general sensitization for this particular part of European history, causing further in sequence a rethinking in Western Europe so that the aspects of Nazi history and their crimes were catapulted into broad public consciousness (–> see Memorial for the European Jews in Berlin)
The new freedom of travelling within the European countries has the effect that nowadays all interested people are able to visit all the places of horror like Dachau, Terezin or Auschwitz and perceive with their hands and senses what the industrial extermination of human beings may mean, even if this is blasting any human imagination. Now only the chances are good, that the perception of Nazi history can be transmitted from one generation to the another, a history which does not represent a local German phenomenon only, but a basic part of European history since all European countries were affected suffering from the Fascist ideology. This represents the historical approach of the videoart project.
–>concept
Differently than the static analogue media like painting or drawing, the time based medium of the moving pictures is more predestined for a multi dimensional artistic representation, and in this way also to represent much better internal and external processes, additionally video represents the expression and language of the contemporary young generations.
The exhibition project is focussed on (digital) videoart, but might at a later stage optionally be extended through other digital art forms, like multimedia or installations, incorporating divers media.
It is the concept to include and present artists from the post war generations (after World War II until these days) using video and new media, particularly the youngest generation, which currently is following the courses at art schools, thus inviting professional artists, as well as higher art schools and via them students from all over the world, particularly from Israel, USA and the European countries.
Questions come up like - how artists who did not experience Nazi persecution or the extermination of Jews deal with the historical knowledge while the distance of time and space is continuously increasing, what relevance it has to them personally, the society or nation they are living in or their history, or how this history of incidents of horror are related to contemporary contexts - understanding history is the basis for differentiated viewing and thinking.
But also questions like –->what are the artistic tools of representing for transforming the personal perceptions into art.
Thus, the exhibition project to be realised is not intending to start another failing attempt to visualize the Holocaust, this time by using new media, but instead to research how the different generations until today face the historical context of the Holocaust, the genocide as a tool of state terror and inhumanity blasting human mind, not generally, of course , but how the word “SHOAH” is indicating already, related to the extermination of Jews and the problems of their complicated survival and history until these days.
It is planned to include exclusively video works, created and produced after 1989, thus works standing under the impression of the revolutionary political, cultural and social changes after the fall of the wall and the rapid technological development taking place at the same time as a historical coincidence causing the digitalization of the media also in contemporary art, and/or works produced especially on occasion of the exhibition project.
As an exhibition of contemporary art, it is addressed to an open minded and reflecting audience,
prepared to deepen and intensify a discussion on the subject, as well as on the art works via accompanying events like lectures, workshops etc.
The exhibition space may range from traditional places of art like museums or galleries to authentic places like memorial camps or industrial sites, intending to change the meaning of the spaces during the exhibition period..
The exhibition is planned to be inaugurated in Germany – Berlin or Cologne, a provisional date may be in autumn 2010 or later in 2011, touring afterwards through European countries and beyond.
The project will be realised via the aspect of “networking” as a new form of international collaboration in the framework of the structures of [NewMediaArtProjectNetwork]||:cologne, the experimental platform for art and new media, while its founder and director, Wilfried Agricola de Cologne has the position of developing, curating, organising and coordinating.
The exhibition will be financed and realised via public and private funding on national and European level.
–> links
A Virtual Memorial - memorial project environments
[NewMediaArtProjectNetwork]:||cologne
