As the generation of witnesses is passing away and the testimonies of Shoah survivors are replaced by an inherited, culturally constructed memory - post-memory – art becomes a meaningful landmark in the landscape of memory. Although the narration of history - being the researchers’ discourse rather than an objective view - has been considered to a certain extent fictitious, the difference between real and fictional, between remembering and creating, becomes today - at the end of the era of eyewitnesses - more and more vague. Thus, art work should take on the role of a vicarious witness to a greater degree than previously. A special duty of art is to restore a discarded memory - such as the memory of the pogroms against the Jews in 1941 in North-Eastern Poland. Only in a few of the dozens of towns where pogroms occurred have memorials been built, and even fewer are inhabited by communities who are prepared to accept a difficult memory. The text is an attempt to define the role of art in the recognition of difficult issues of memory and the potential role of art as a testimony in a changing social context. The works of artists who deal with the subject of memory and social trauma and the role of art in restoring memory are also discussed.
Authors
Additional information
- Category
- Publikacja monograficzna
- Type
- rozdział, artykuł w książce - dziele zbiorowym /podręczniku w języku o zasięgu międzynarodowym
- Language
- angielski
- Publication year
- 2016
