Sussex Dispatch #4

This post was automatically translated from the German original at
Sussex Depesche #4.

With the third conference day, the Landecker Digital Memory Lab inaugural Expo – Exploring the Future of Digital Holocaust Memory at the University of Sussex came to an end for the NGHM team – and at least the rearguard – those who didn’t have to travel immediately to the next working group meeting in Cologne – were able to undertake a hike across the chalk cliff formation of the “Seven Sisters” in the afternoon.

Before that, the final workshops and presentations of the Expo addressed the question of how digital technology is changing memory culture. The following three projects exemplified different approaches in this field through their discussion: the use of Virtual Reality, photographic documentation, and location-based Augmented Reality.

Barna Szász, XR artist and lecturer at Stanford University, presented his project “If These Streets Could Talk”. His Mixed Reality application makes the history of the Holocaust in Budapest experienceable through Augmented Reality. Szász speaks of “Storyliving” instead of storytelling – users become protagonists of the story rather than passive observers. The interaction is implemented in such a way that it functions naturally, without buttons or artificial interfaces. As a documentary filmmaker, Szász brings his experience with traditional media into the development of new formats. His vision is to expand the project to other European cities and thereby make local Jewish histories visible.

Jan Schenck pursues a different approach. Since 2013, the photographer has been documenting the sites of Nazi book burnings for his project “Verbrannte Orte” [Burnt Places]. He has now photographed over 160 locations and compiled them in an online atlas. The images show everyday places where usually no memorial signs point to the historical events. Schenck impressively demonstrates that most people only know about the book burnings of 10 May 1933, while over 90 additional burnings are hardly known to the public. His project combines open data with visual memory work and makes forgotten sites of persecution visible again.

The Claims Conference presented “Inside Kristallnacht“, a Virtual Reality experience about the November Pogrom of 9 November 1938. The project is based on the memories of Holocaust survivor Charlotte Knobloch, who lived in Munich as a six-year-old. The project’s VR environment combines historical footage, photographs, and audio recordings with a hand-drawn world. Users can interact in a Q&A with Dr. Knobloch that utilises natural language processing. The Claims Conference developed the project with the USC Shoah Foundation, Meta, and UNESCO to preserve the voices of the last witnesses for future generations.

Like many other projects presented at the conference over the past few days, these three examples also demonstrate innovative ways in which digital methods and tools are transforming the communication of history. While Szász develops new forms of storytelling with Augmented Reality, Schenck documents forgotten places with photography; the Claims Conference uses Virtual Reality to make witness testimonies accessible. All approaches aim not only to communicate history but also to make it experienceable in new ways.

In the South Downs, an unusual landmark finally raised the question of whether Sherlock Holmes might actually have existed and what the creation of historical markers with fictional backgrounds means for the production of history – in analogue space.