Witnessing Loss: Memory and Culpability

About

This course is part of the International Summer Academy Salzburg 2022.

When the question is asked: how to commemorate historical loss through slavery, colonialism or war, the further question arises: how to draw a picture of culpability?

In this course, students will ponder over cultural discourses around archive and memory, considering the role of artistic imagery. Awareness of culpability is central to the development of cultural techniques through which a subsequent society can be shaped by victims and perpetrators alike.

We are currently at a moment in the modern age when recognition of historical facts has to be defended against arbitrary counter-interpretation. For artists, this means selecting themes from a wealth of information and discourses, classifying them and taking an active stance in their work. What is the relation of history and its reappraisal to current social dynamics? What do we as artists wish to contribute, and how can this issue be materialised in film and photograph – and then played back into public discourse through display and exhibition?

Course leader

Leon Kahane

Target group

Open to anyone interested in fine arts (focus on Film / Photography, Installation / Mixed Media, Theory / Praxis)

Course aim

Students will learn what roles are played by art and culture, and what attributions and what kinds of instrumentalisation can be involved. Group and one-to-one discussions offer participants room to develop their ideas and projects in art and discourse.

Fee info