Spaces of Commemoration and Communication: A Novel Approach at the Mauthausen Memorial Visitor Center 9783839467336

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STEFAN SONVILLA-WEISS SPACES OF COMMEMORATION AND COMMUNICATION

Museum | Volume 75

Stefan Sonvilla-Weiss, Ph.D., born in 1961, is an international media scholar, designer, and professor from Austria. He has held full professor and administrative positions at the Aalto University, School of Art, Design and Architecture, Finland, and the University of Art and Design Linz, Austria. He is currently a senior faculty member at the College of Media and Communication Sciences at Zayed University Abu Dhabi. He has published widely in participatory media practices and digital culture, including Mashup Cultures and (IN)VISIBLE. Learning to act in the metaverse. (Springer Wien/New York)

STEFAN SONVILLA-WEISS

SPACES OF COMMEMORATION AND COMMUNICATION A NOVEL APPROACH AT THE MAUTHAUSEN MEMORIAL VISITOR CENTER

The book is printed with the support of the Upper Austrian cultural department and Zayed University, UAE. Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available in the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de © 2023 transcript Verlag, Bielefeld All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Cover layout, illustration, copy-editing, typeset: S-W Design, Vienna Printed by Majuskel Medienproduktion GmbH, Wetzlar Print-ISBN 978-3-8376-6733-2 PDF-ISBN 978-3-8394-6733-6 ISSN of series: 2702-3990 eISSN of series: 2702-9026 https://doi.org/10.14361/9783839467336 Printed on permanent acid-free text paper.

We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere. When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant. Wherever men or women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place must—at that moment—become the center of the universe. Elie Wiesel in his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech on Dec. 10, 1986.

CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENT

8

INTRODUCTION 12 1 PREAMBLE 21 THE INTERNATIONAL MEMORIAL MUSEUMS CHARTER REVISITED 2 THE MEMORIAL‘S RESPONSIBILITIES PAST AND PRESENT



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Historical overview of the memorial’s objectives

30

3 COMMUNICATION IN A CULTURALLY SENSITIVE ENVIRONMENT

34

Defining the space of interaction 34 The role of emotions 39 Why leave a message? 42 4 THE PARTICIPATORY MEMORIAL, MUSEUM, INSTITUTION AND BEYOND

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Participative encounters at the Mauthausen memorial

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5 MEDIATED MEMORIES 62 6 LIVING MEMORIES 74 Keeping victim‘s memories alive



74

The “Virtual Real”— a means of authentic experience for future generations

80

7 LIVING ARCHIVES AS A MEANS OF COLLECTIVE MEMORY

86

What is a living archive?



88

8 PROJECT STAGES AND REALIZATION



98

Preface 98 Needs analysis/research questions 103 The multifunctional dimension of the installation 106 Spatial dimensions — spotting the location 110 Prototyping



The interplay between computer-aided design

112 114

(CAD), the space, and the model Sitting elements

116

The input, storage, and presentation media

118

Messages

130

9 CONCLUSIONS AND INTERVIEW

144

REFERENCES

158

BIBLIOGRAPHY

162

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

167

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

A project of that size requires a team of motivated, enthusiastic and idealistic people who commit themselves to work for a common goal. From inception, one driving force behind it kept uniting the “crew” over the entire life span—and that was the spirit of how we can contribute something meaningful to honor the victims who lost their lives during the national socialist regime. And to remember them in the heart that such crimes must never happen again. I soon realized that we were all dedicated to investing time and energy to the utmost extent. Aware that we had the privilege of our interactive media and room installation was the first-ever implemented permanent work at the Mauthausen memorial’s visiting center. It is owed to the memorial’s forward-thinking pedagogical approach to continue working on novel forms of participation in contemporary memory culture. There are many people to whom I am grateful, my former students, Lena Kalt, Bertram Verdezoto Galeas, Christoph Flattinger, Michael Kramer, Reinhard Zach, and lecturer Manfred Grillnberger from the University of Art and Design Linz, Austria. We want to thank Gudrun Blohberger, educational manager; Bernhard Mühleder, team member; and Barbara Glück, director of the Mauthausen memorial, for their assistance. Among the sources of financial support are the University of Art and Design Linz, Austria, the Mauthausen Memorial, KulturKontakt Austria, and the Federal Chancellery of the Republic of Austria. Stefan Sonvilla-Weiss October 2022

To my wife, Barbara, my daughter Felicitas, and my son Silvius

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INTRODUCTION

This publication attempts to turn theory into practice and vice versa, reminiscent of Einstein’s famous quote, “In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they are not.” These two realms denote a process of abstraction and application and in the best case, a combination of both. Talking about a concrete project with distinct objectives and appropriate methodology will likely produce a specific outcome that potentially accommodates both a community of practitioners and theorists. Everyday life is full of products that demonstrate the marriage of theoretical and practical knowledge by user acceptance seamlessly and unobtrusively. In other words, “the proof of the pudding is in the eating”—the famously quoted idiom from the early 17th century meaning that a person can only know if something is good or bad by trying it. Using this assumption, regardless of the instruments applied, empirical findings support judgments about the object of investigation. Transferring this claim to the contents of this book: the room and media installation “mit-teilen” (to communicate) encompass a model of practice-based research unfolding connections to adjacent research disciplines and knowledge. As the title suggests, the spatial dimension of communication and commemoration goes beyond design, usability, and technique, transferring a specific environment and confronting it with memory culture‘s social-cultural, political, and educational dimensions. In this regard, one could argue that the installation at the memorial center works as the object of investigation and, at the same time, is the product of a long-term theoretical examination of the specificity of memorial culture in Austria and the location of the former concentration camp Mauthausen. The applied research project arose from a collaboration between the media design department I chaired at the Art and Design University Linz and the educational team at the memorial. The main objectives were the practical dimension of user acceptance, usability, and participation for different target audiences. That resonates with

Introduction 13

the physical, ethical, social, and educational dimensions, not only getting confronted with the atrocities of the past but getting involved in critical discourse and awareness-creating activities. In times of resurgence of ultra-nationalistic and xenophobic tendencies across Europe, education and awareness-raising for all age groups about the history of the greatest crimes of all times against humanity are of paramount importance for agency and civil engagement. Taking up the three educational guiding themes of the memorial, “Never again,” “What has this to do with me,” and “How could this happen,” the book examines commemorative culture and its transformation towards interactive and participatory experiences. Through examples, the reader will get an overview of audience participation in cultures of commemoration, which connects with the participatory museum and the democratization of knowledge. Based on comparative studies, user experience, and participation analysis, with a specific emphasis on human-centered and emotional design, the focus is on a multi-sensual approach to accessing factual information that accommodates individuals’ quest for authenticity and target-specific experiences. Adjacent research fields in commemorative cultures, memory spaces, living memory, memorial culture, novel forms of participation, and visitor engagement come into play. However, it cannot be covered all in-depth as these would go beyond the scope of the author’s expertise and capacities to broaden them in this specific context. Thus highlighting the different project stages aligned with empirical research based on observation and data from the user responses can be considered one of the targets. Similarly, using the concept of communicative ecology, are adequate means to explore the social, discursive, and technological layers of how audiences get involved via different media. In limiting the scope and breath while preparing the field of investigation, the initial research questions and needs analysis on Participation-Archive-Communication, and Visualization are deemed appropriate for marking the field. From there, the contextualization became apparent in the body of literature, and either comparative studies or looking into similar approaches, as it turned out, only one comparable European concentration camp memorial-related project existed. Although this

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temporary project, “projected memory” at the memorial Sachsenhausen was terminated yet is well documented on the web, the specific participatory approach to recording video messages from the visitors touched on the room and media installation mit-teilen. In the chapter “Mediated Memories,” I discuss, among others, the problematic implications of watching visual representations of other people captured in a moment of authentic expression that entails layers of violating intimacy, and the private sphere, disrupting the original intent. The chapter “The memorial past and present” looks into the history of the memorial Mauthausen after WWII, revealing a slow transformation from a memorial site to a place of commemoration, documentation, and education toward a social-political task. That is, confronting and educating coming generations about the complicity of the crimes committed by their ancestors is at the core. Especially the 1990s in Austria saw a drastic move when an official governmental statement showed an admission of guilt for the involvement of crimes during the NS regime. It meant a fundamental break with a long-preserved myth of victimhood rather than perpetration for the Austrian mind, which paved the way for a broader public debate on the many victims who suffered under perpetrators of Austrian descent. As a result, memorial culture in Austria and Germany came under pressure to shift focus from the historical and political dimension of Nazi crimes to the expectation of the victims’ organizations and descendants. Since the second and third postwar generations asked different questions confronting their own family and society with the unspoken truth and learning from survivors’ voices about their deprivation, recording and documenting Holocaust survivors’ stories became a joint effort. Some of the questions refer to how new media technologies alter the perception and meaning-making processes, especially when virtual reality experiences disconnect from the real world. Drifting away from the reality of what has happened and the instruments and mechanisms of transfer into cultural memory, heritage, and artifacts contributes to a vast and uncontrollable array of virtual data prone to malpractice. The argument is that though digitally savvy, the future co-creators of collective memory and remembrance practices echoing contemporary

Introduction 15

discourse lose their relationship with immediate experiences—the focal point shifts toward mere self-representations. Highlighting the importance of audiovisual testimonies of Holocaust survivors and witnesses opens up an institutional perspective (e.g., “Witnesses of the Holocaust”) on the extraordinary power of authenticity of personal memories that make us understand and empathize with their experiences and current life situations in the shadow of the Holocaust. Keeping the survivor’s memory alive and finding novel ways of interacting with them virtually—a good example is the “USC Shoah Foundation’s Dimensions in Testimony project”— enables people to ask questions that prompt real-time responses from pre-recorded video interviews with Holocaust survivors. “Getting involved” is one of the key phrases for engaging the audiences with cultural experiences of any kind. In the chapter “The participatory museum, memorial and beyond,” the discussion focuses on the concept of new museology. They are overcoming the hierarchical and institutional barriers and resonating with the institutional critique that revived the idea of egalitarian principles in the making, exhibiting, critiquing, and consuming art, inclusive and non-discriminational. For the institutions, as museums are, it meant a radical shift from mere instructional and informative spaces to user-centered, needs-based, and participatory approaches. While memorial museums are intended to present an accurate record of the past and serve as a form of reparation and reconciliation, their primary goal, as both museums and memorials, is to educate their public to embrace democratic values and internalize a moral imperative. Beyond the educational purpose, a memorial seeks to balance its intellectual-historical narratives with active emotional experiences that will impact the visitor more fully, entailing a long-lasting impression or even moral sensibility. Similar to the “educational turn” that emerged in the 1990s, emphasizing the process and discursive, pedagogical methods beyond the exhibition, the participatory memorial pursues erecting a robust fundament of political and social responsibility. As it turns out, the ethical, historical, and discursive dimensions are equally important pillars for official policies and civic engagement. In the chapter “The role of emotions in culturally sensitive environments,” borrowing findings from the

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latest research on constructed emotion is paramount to discerning emotional and motivational conditions after the memorial’s visit (Barrett, 2020). When exploring participation and interaction, aspects of the mind, including affective realism, concepts, and social reality, underpin the claim that regardless of age and background, all visitors carry a unique mindset with different emotions, concepts, and experiences for thoughts and feelings. Each of them needs to adapt to a specific, primarily unknown environment. On the one hand, the notion of the intertwinings of the deceived mind and the cognition of the constructed emotions is fundamental for mediation and memorial education. In interrogating “Why leaving a message,” tracing, for example, the visitor’s pathways at the former concentration camp as individuals or through guided tours, the correlation of perception-emotion-attention and memory is apparent in expressing the impressions on paper or digital screen. The messages recorded resonate with the participatory approach of user-generated content that has been utilized as a tool for immediate response and feedback in, for example, exploring the potential of social tagging and folksonomy in Web 2.0. The chapter “Living archives as means of collective memory” takes up the idea of bridging the semantic gap between the experts’ knowledge and professional discourse and the museum visitor’s popular language by adopting it to the concept of the living archive. It provides evidence as contemporaries and citizens on the present reception, discussion, and discourse about the Holocaust’s perception in everyday life and at the memorial. To conciliate the living as transitory and in constant flux with the archive, preserving and making accessible memory culture to as many people as possible is a demanding co-evolving process between actors and institutions. The discussion here is to discover to what degree ephemeral and temporary events fuel the spaces where current cultural discourse takes place, producing multiple forms of memory objects that eventually become memorable cultural objects. In the case of the project, mit-teilen, the question is how it becomes a powerful, complex communication tool for memory transmission and community identity building. The project’s documentation in the final chapter

Introduction 17

covers a genealogy from the early stage to the final implementation and opening at the memorial’s visitor center in March 2019. For a better understanding of the practice-based research objectives and the project-specific prerequisites, the chronological order of each step deems necessary as an orientation to follow the multitude of methodological, experiential, and experimental approaches. The reader will learn about the complexity of design thinking processes, planning stages, and production that can only be achieved in a team, resonating with Wenger’s notion of a community of practices. Each element of the installation came to light because of committed and devoted people; most of them were graduate students at the time of the making, which became true experts in their fields. It cannot be high enough to value the driven spirit to overcome the magnitude of installation-specific technical challenges and obstacles relating to security concerns and legal technicalities at the memorial. Three years after launching the installation and after almost two years of COVID-related restrictions, the doors are again open, and visitors have returned. From observation coming from the educational team, communication, contemplation, and reflections are the three most significant areas of user behavior and acceptance, giving information about the individual emotional disposition and means of expression. To date (September 2022), almost 2000 entries have been recorded, yet more time is needed to conduct a robust qualitative and quantitative analysis of the wide-ranging spectrum of messages. Hence this publication presents empirical findings in a nascent state, likewise is the scope of a thorough inductive analysis of the data gathered from participants. Some of these findings are meant to support the author in establishing a field of discussion to connect with a broader audience of practitioners and scholars in cross-disciplinary research and practical work. The main goal, however, is to raise awareness about society’s necessity to establish natural spaces of communication and exchange in which memory cultures can work as a catalyst and reminder about the consequences of injustice and crime against humanity that no one wants to repeat.



21

1 PREAMBLE THE INTERNATIONAL MEMORIAL MUSEUMS CHARTER REVISITED 1

This international memorial museum charter is oriented toward the UN Declaration of Human Rights and ICOM’s ethical principles that work as a fundament for the project’s objectives. The general principles of commemoration in memorial museums are: A collaborative culture of remembrance cannot and must not be dictated by decree. Given the different historical experiences, memorial museums should accept the co-existence of commemorative imperatives aimed at pluralistic cultures of remembrance. Institutions should be designed for cooperation instead of encouraging competition, creating a struggle for dominance. Should this be a worthwhile venture, a collaborative culture of remembrance could gradually develop from many decentralized initiatives. A pluralistic culture of remembrance also requires a shared set of positive values. These already exist in the universal declaration of human and civil rights. As contemporary history museums, Memorial museums are chiefly involved in remembering public crimes against minorities. This is why current states, governments, and local communities bear a great responsibility to memorial museums. They should safeguard their collections and assure them of the highest degree of independence from political directives. At the same time, the memorial museums have to anchor themselves broadly within civil society and make a special effort to integrate minorities. Modern memorial museums are contemporary history museums with a

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special obligation to humanitarian and civic education. The memorial museums will only be able to assert themselves against political interests and lobbyists if they have achieved high-quality work, infrastructure, and personal organization. Fundamental decisions in memorial museums concerning the content, education, and design should be based mainly on an open, non-hierarchical pluralistic discussion with survivors, scholars, educators, lobbyists, and committed social groups. The work of memorial museums is principally science-based. State-run institutions and private sponsors have to accept this. Information conveyed in exhibitions, publications, and educational projects about historical events should evoke empathy with the victims as individuals and groups specifically targeted for persecution. Interpretation should avoid commemoration in the form of revenge, hate, and resentment between different victim groups. Historical experiences must be integrated into historical contexts without minimizing the personal suffering of individuals. The integration of historical events should take place on the level of modern contemporary historical research and honor the scholarly principles of discourse and multiple perspectives. The view of the perpetrators who committed the crimes has to be addressed. The perpetrators should not be demonized; their ideology, aims, and motives should be used to explain their actions. This includes the institutional and social mechanisms and the individual biographies of perpetrators. The ability to question one’s perspective also considers the inclusion of one’s crimes and self-images into the presentation of the “other.” The broad and very diverse group of bystanders should be handled similarly. Memorial museums located at historically authentic sites where crimes were committed

Preamble 23

hold an immense opportunity for conducting historical and civic education, but significant risks are also involved. This is why memorial museums need to orient their educational work less toward an agreement about the content and more towards universal principles. This demands that the visitors are not overwhelmed or indoctrinated, that the subjective view of individuals is respected, and that controversial subjects be treated as controversial. As contemporary history museums, Memorial museums are constantly engaged in self-criticism of their history and have to embed it in the history of their respective remembrance culture. Cognizant of current trends of thinking, they should gear their presentations towards contemporary interpretations of the past while being anchored to the actual historical events. Considering that memorial sites differ considerably in various aspects, some criteria listed below should have validity. From the point of view of the Committee on the Genocide of the Roma and the Museum Memorial Working Group, these would be, based on the International Memorial Museums Charter, as adopted by the ITF Plenary in Liège in 2012:

Moral decency, paying tribute to the victims. Memorial museums are responsible for protecting the victims’ dignity from all forms of exploitation and ensuring, beyond conventional history lessons, that the interpretation of political events inspires critical, independent thinking about the past. Clear responsibility for a site must be defined (local, provincial, state); independence of sites from political directives. As contemporary history museums, Memorial museums

24 SPACES OF COMMEMORATION AND COMMUNICATION

are chiefly involved in remembering public crimes against minorities. This is why current states, governments, and local communities bear a great responsibility to memorial museums. They should safeguard their collections and assure them the highest degree of independence from political directives. At the same time, the memorial museums have to anchor themselves broadly within civil society and make a special effort to integrate minorities. Modern memorial museums are contemporary history museums with a special obligation to humanitarian and civic education. The memorial museums will only be able to assert themselves against political interests and lobbyists if they have achieved high-quality work, infrastructure, and personal organization. Information conveyed in exhibitions, publications, and educational projects about historical events should evoke empathy with the victims as individual humans and groups specifically targeted for persecution. Interpretation should avoid commemoration in the form of revenge, hate, and resentment between different victim groups. Pedagogical offers for guided tours, pedagogical materials, and sufficient accessibility to these offers/materials. Teacher training should be provided to prepare adequate visits to school classes and debriefing after the visit; pedagogical materials should be made available online. Memorial Museums should also provide sufficient information and guided tours for the growing number of individual visitors according to their fields of interest and commemorative needs, including multilingual programs. It is of utmost importance that memorial sites be accessible by public transport.

Preamble 25

It is unacceptable that critical monument sites can only be reached with difficulties and private means. Barrier-free accession to a site should prioritize, e.g., heritage protection laws. An adequate level of protection (preferably on the national level) is ensured through active and effective legislative and physical measures preserving, safeguarding, and developing the site for present and future generations.

The recently published “IHRA’s Guidelines for Identifying Relevant Documentation for Holocaust Research, Education and Remembrance” (2022) provides a valuable supplement to the working definition of Holocaust-related materials. Holocaust-related materials must have their origin from the end of the First World War, extending to the close of Displaced Person camps in the 1950s. They must pertain to the legal, political, social, economic, and cultural status of groups subject to state policies and persecution during the core period of 1933-1945. Exceptions to these temporal parameters include: – Materials from Holocaust war crimes trials, testimonies about the Holocaust and its deniers, Holocaust commemoration, and memorialization – Asset and compensation-related materials – Records that are part of more extensive collections remain relevant to Holocaust history. Materials relevant to the study of the Holocaust inform a wide range of subject areas. The most important relates to the systematic and statesponsored murder of approximately six million Jews and approximately a half million Roma in Europe and North Africa by the Nazi regime and its collaborators. In addition, such materials inform a wide range of related subject areas—originals and copy prints of photographs, photographic albums, transparencies, and photograph negatives.

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2 THE MEMORIAL‘S RESPONSIBILITIES PAST AND PRESENT

The roles and responsibilities of museums and memorials changed over the last decades from mere presentation and preservation to socially, politically, and culturally responsible institutions that promote and support public discourse, education, knowledge creation, and transfer. Speaking in need-for-change terms, the transition from elitist to egalitarian institutions has been the most pressing. Liberating time-honored museums from their heavy burden of past glory and opening them up for the public discourse meant a big step forward. Today, a cultural institution can only survive by investing in a private-public partnership, research, education, internationalization, viability, agency, citizen participation, and open science. Tracing back the history of the Mauthausen memorial and museum to the present, it is no surprise that it took much time to develop an adequate space for commemoration and education. It happened only in 1991 when an official governmental statement showed an admission of guilt for the involvement of crimes during the NS regime. This meant a fundamental break with a long-preserved myth of victimhood rather than perpetration for the Austrian mind. In retrospect, this official note paved the way for a broader public debate on the many victims who suffered under perpetrators of Austrian descent. Another milestone in accounting for the past was the critical analysis of existing restitution acts started by the Austrian historical 2 commission in 1998. The 14,000-page report comprises the confiscation and deprivation of properties during the Nazi era, the history of compensations since 1945, and the shortcomings of existing restitution laws. Citing one of the conclusory statements of the commission underpins the complexity of the ongoing dispute: “The restitution system is confusing, sometimes contradicting web of a multitude of laws and ordinances, including conflicting interests of political parties, business associa3 tions, victims’ organizations, and the allies.” These are only a few

The memorial’s responsibilities past and present

29

historical moments in the reappraisal and public-awareness creation of the country-specific involvement during the NS era. It revealed significant shifts in the political climate in the 1990s and corollary, revamping commemoration and memorials taken up by initiative of individuals rapidly. (Simon Wiesenthal) In parallel, memorial culture in Austria and Germany came under pressure to rework the hitherto focus on the historical and political dimension of Nazi crimes to meet the expectation of the victims’ organizations. The second and third postwar generations asked different questions confronting their own family and society with the unspoken truth and learning from survivors’ voices about their deprivation. It was also a period of relentless exposure and criticism 4 5 articulated in film, literature, and contemporary history (Botz, 1996) of civilians’ criminal involvement and denunciation of regime opponents. Recording and documenting Holocaust survivors’ stories became a joint effort (cf. Shoah foundation) to keep their memories alive for future generations. Oral history and the archiving of the individual stories of witnesses and victims for education are still invaluable resources for the younger generation to empathize with 6 the sufferings of the survivors. Honoring those who lived through and survived the darkest period in human history and respecting their stories as authentic and factual records evoked a critical review of the notion of memory in a broader societal context. Jan Assmann’s work (1995) on communicative and cultural memory underpins the necessity to distinguish between disembodied, institutional, and embodied, socially constructed forms of memory. Applying the concept of communicative memory to the survivor’s stories translates into autobiographical writing within three to four consecutive generations. Almost 80 years after the liberation from the Nazi dictatorship, the voices of aged contemporary witnesses will soon disappear; hence the more vital is their documentation and accessibility in all kinds of cultural contexts. From today’s perspective, the challenge is to find methods of reconsidering history through the voice of the individuals whose authentic stories are, to some extent, more memorable than quantitative information can. As these voices soon become our cultural memory, they will lose authenticity in the digital archive

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that entails scientific, technical, structural, and many more criteria of validation and classification in various contexts and application areas. Regardless of cultural artifacts’ material or non-material nature, they contain transitory elements of re-interpretation, evaluation, and contextualization for either temporal or permanent public display. In contemporary memorial culture, the amalgam of scientific rigor about facts and visitors’ emotionally moving experiences enables various interpretations. The multi-sensual approach to accessing factual information accommodates individuals’ quest for authenticity and target-specific aesthetic experiences. Along with the digitalization efforts of cultural heritage, museums and memorials invested in interactive and userfriendly websites to keep pace with the expectations of different stakeholders, consumers, and the technologically savvy generations. The virtual experience, regardless if it takes place before the visit or coevally, naturally converges with first-hand experiences on site. Customization of individual experiences is elementary to address the widest audiences possible. Before elaborating on the projectspecific usability and user experience objectives, an outline of the memorial’s history is a prerequisite to understanding the present work’s educational, political, historical, and social dimensions in the memorial center and beyond.

Historical overview of the memorial’s objectives The museum and memorial’s genealogy is to understand today’s commemorative culture in Mauthausen better. Unlike the vast amount of research conducted on the history of the concentration camp, the body of work about the history of the memorial is comparatively insignificant (cf. Fiederer/Baumgartner ff.). In 1947, the occupying power of the Soviet Union handed over the former concentration camp Mauthausen to the Republic of Austria with the understanding and obligation to establish and sustain a memorial on-site for future generations. From today’s perspective, it looks disrespectful to the victims that people from the vicinity soon after looted or exploited the remaining goods in the barracks and across the camp. The

The memorial’s responsibilities past and present

31

demolition of most of the barracks had economic reasons for cheap maintenance of the area and in terms of reusable building materials. This pragmatic view of survival of the war generation, regardless of their involvement in Nazi crimes, is hard to accept for succeeding generations who grew up in peace, prosperity, and affluence of material goods. In 1949, along with the memorial’s inauguration, only a few preservable parts of the camp remained for commemorative plaques in honor of the martyrdom of the prisoners. Mauthausen turned for over three decades into a place of remembrance of their former prisoners and survivors, many of them organized in associations and communities that assembled every year on the second Sunday in May for the liberation ceremony. Soon after the erection of the first monument in remembrance of the victims of French nationality in 1949, over 20 national monuments followed in the area of the former SS camp since 1950. The monument unveiling for the Jewish victims took place in 1976 as an initiative by Yad Vashem, Jerusalem. Among the many monuments representing victims’ national or political affiliations, the dedication for those who suffered racial discrimination and extinction as the Roma and Sinti happened only in 1998. Besides the monuments, the over 40 plaques, many mounted on the wailing wall in Mauthausen, remind us of the many minority groups who suffered persecution, imprisonment, and murder during the Nazi regime. It is worth mentioning that most memorials and plaques are profane with no religious impetus. The initiative paving the way for the museum and memorial came from the many survivor’s organizations in the 1960s. Coevally, systematic documentation, and archival work by a so-called former prisoner functionary Hans Maršálek, a socialist and active in the resistance, laid the foundation of today’s museum. The memorial’s inauguration by the former Austrian chancellor Bruno Kreisky on May 3rd, 1970, marked a clearly defined purpose for educating the younger generation in Austria. Even though this first step of confronting the younger generations with the crimes committed by their ancestors did not fully meet its educational targets—seen from today’s perspective—at least these were the foundations for a comprehensive understanding of history. In the mid-1980s, the museum

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revamped design-related aspects whereby the contents on display changed little. The inauguration of a permanent exhibition dealing with imprisoned people from Austria in concentration camps other than Mauthausen expanded the view on the vast number of satellite camps in which they lost their lives. Sixty years after the Austrian “Anschluss” (Annexation of Austria in 1938), a grand exhibition in the former kitchen barrack of the camp addressed Austrian history between 1938 and 1998. In 2003, the visitor center’s inauguration occurred on the US troops’ 58th anniversary of the concentration camp’s liberation. The purpose of the visitor center is to educate and commemorate the victims with the prerequisite of not deteriorating from the primary goal of visiting the former concentration campsite. To avoid conflicts of interest in the programmatic political-historical and educational objectives, the visitor center’s responsibilities lie in preparing and informing different target groups before and after the site visit. “Visitors should be allowed to inform themselves before the 7 site visit and reflect and digest their impressions afterward.” With that said, the intention of our project seamlessly connects with the objectives to provide a designated personal space for contemplation, reflection, and communication. As a side-effect of the inauguration of the visitor’s center, the launch of educational initiatives, exhibitions, and the completion of the Mauthausen 8 Survivors Documentation Project brought a long-awaited change in governmental commitment and responsibility, contributing to commemorative culture. Taking the example of the Mauthausen visitor’s center, the shift from confronting audiences with a linear array of historical facts and artifacts toward discursive, curated, and performative formats to engage with the public resonates with the contemporary museum, event, and exhibition culture. An old paradigm of early modernism that the audiences co-created the exhibit in their meaning-making has become commonplace. Furthermore, in the following, I argue that the confluence of novel approaches to postcolonial history and representation of minority groups in the past’s mirror and present—are the drivers for redesigning memorials.

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3 COMMUNICATION IN A CULTURALLY SENSITIVE ENVIRONMENT

Defining the space of interaction Educational programs are becoming more subtle and diverse, and considering the visitor’s different profiles and backgrounds is essential in increasing understanding and engagement during memorial site visits. Part of museum culture for decades is to approach the individual as an active user who co-creates an artwork. However, this does not work as a viable concept for creating a memorial participatory culture. The transfer of working user-centered methods in museums has a different connotation in commemorative culture. Memorials are transporting a charged, sensitive part in the history of humanity. They remind us of George Santayana’s famous aphorism, “Those who 9 cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” This quote is visible on a plaque at Auschwitz concentration camp, an appeal to learn from the past and to reconcile with the present. These places embody a strict set of moral and ethical values that are indispensable and manifested in the national constitutions. It is thus apparent that, for example, visiting former concentration camps is per se restricted to social norms and respectful treatment within the location. As an individual, you may navigate time and space using audio or a personal guide, whereby group visits require a target and sitespecific communication and interaction. The prosumer culture permeating societies across the globe unleashes increasing expectations of novel forms of communication and participation. Whether collaborative, economic, or DIY-driven, today’s audiences are used to interconnectivity and responsive externalized information and knowledge sources. That is one reason educational teams look into app- and location-based guided tours and information support. Another important aspect relates to the emancipatory use of technologies and information. Not all visitors want to follow a linear narrative, as

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it is too demanding for some. For example, in concentration camps where mass extermination occurred, visitors must make their own choices, whether they feel comfortable confronting or omitting a specific sentiment triggered during the visit. We found out during user experience studies that younger age groups sometimes get overwhelmed in facing the hard facts of mass extinctions at the crematories. As the dynamics of peer pressure may cause unwanted side effects for the individual, solid preparation and optional pathways are a prerequisite to engendering meaningful experiences.  Looking back at the history of education and communication of commemorative culture in Austria, I remember visiting Mauthausen in the mid-70s. It was part of the educational program that all 9th graders had to pay a visit to the former concentration camp. It felt like shock therapy and an experience of fear and despair, as there was hardly any reflection or discussion at a level we could follow and comprehend at this age.  Meanwhile, not least by constant improvements of educational materials and trained guidance on-site, the objectives of commemoration became more broadly accepted. The memorials’ goals to educate and shed light upon the victims and perpetrators of the nazi regime considerably contribute to the public discourse against oblivion and ignorance. With the inauguration of the visitor’s center in 2003, the memorial expanded its activities into a space of communication, reflection, interaction, and commemoration. The new building is multifunctional, hosting the organizational and pedagogical team, a small restaurant, and the memorial shop. Our usability studies concluded that those spaces in the building meant for gatherings, group work, and discussions are difficult to access for school groups. As the architecture, made of concrete and glass, conveys a geometric puristic style, the few seating accommodations in the main hall feel more like a design statement than an invitation to be seated. After the memorial visit, school groups need rest and time for chatting, retreat, and reflection. This observation by the educational team, teachers, and guides underpinned the necessity to investigate the so-called third-space postmodern conception in architecture

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and urban planning. Drawing on the definition of first and second spaces characterized by two different usages, for example, home (private) and work (public). In his book “Thirdspace: Journeys to Los Angeles and Other Real-and-Imagined Places” (1996), Edward Soja proposes to shed light on the in-between first and second spaces and how this generates hybrid forms of being in time, space, epistemological, historical, and changing social environments. This fluidity between work, private life, and cultural and social participation in the public space strongly connects to today’s mobility and nomadic life as a driving force to adapt and reconfigure the surroundings. I borrow this conception from E. Soja to see whether the definition of in-between spaces may apply to the envisioned spatial media installation. In this vein, the discussion moves from the third space concept into the fourth place, as Morrison (2019) argues “that the new social environments in the knowledge city can combine elements of the first and second place (coliving); of the second and third place (coworking); and the first and third place (commingling).” It is, however, worth challenging how these concepts apply to the micro-organism of the memorial center regarding visitors of different age groups and nationalities. Let us transfer the fourth-space typology onto the media installation. In that case, the definition of spaces varies between public/work/education/communication/ human-computer interaction/social depending on the activities in a separate or converging mode. This fluidity and adaptiveness of spatial-temporal engagement with the environment and its people was the add-on benefiting the memorial team and the diverse target audiences.  A viable method that elaborates the spatial relationship of interior design is the space within a space concept. We developed a concept that enhances user experience and interaction with the environment, and it corresponds spatially and functionally with the usage categories inside the building. The range of usage scenarios is deducible from the model, especially the interplay between the multi-purpose features of the main visitor hall and the discrete yet corresponding embedment of our media and room installation. The seating elements are moveable and flexible in arranging various constellations. It defines

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this area for two core activities: communication and watching the user’s comments and images on the screen. In contrast to the public space, we created the interactive part of the installation as a private space where the visitors can retreat and leave messages on a tablet. Corresponding curved design protects the visitor from the public, emphasizing both times for reflection and leaving a personal message. Some considerations supporting these specific user interface arrangements stem from the Proxemics theory, “a theory of non-verbal communication that explains how people perceive and use space to 10 achieve communication goals.” Precisely, borrowing the definition of body territory from Proxemics, the intimate and personal space coincides with the person at the moment of contemplation, reflection, and interactivity with the tablet. The private area within which the user interacts entails a set of pre-configured parameters such as spatial design, seating arrangement/comfort, and technical infrastructure. Aside from the media- and design-specific configurations and components, the question is how these settings would encourage or discourage user participation. Undoubtedly the interaction design we envisaged stimulates self-exploration and discovery with few instructions on how and for what involvement and participation meant. When writing this book, some feedback from the educational team referred to less indicative information and instructions on how to use the interactive media installation. Other comments were about the installation’s inherently intrinsic character of self-directed and multidirectional usage scenarios. This concern underpins emancipatory and equal use, keeping in mind the diverse target groups of different nationalities, age groups, affiliations with victims’ associations, comprehension, and consciousness in dealing with commemorative culture sensitivity. The interaction design reflects the shift from linear computerassisted instruction to non-linear, explorative, and intuitive usercentered meaning-making processes. Playfulness and serendipity are inextricable instances for personalized experiences. The notion of interactivity as part of diverse usage scenarios in culturally and historically sensitive environments requires a profound analysis of contemporary memorialization and social reconstruction or

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6 The messages from visitors on the memory stickers are collected on pin walls in the visitor center. This initial interaction-based concept ignited the idea of transferring it into a multimodal digital interface.

reconciliation examples. The urge for individual commemoration and honoring the victims is one leitmotif of commemorative efforts 11 aligned with the long-term memorial concept. It would require more space for individual commemoration. One of the prevalent expressions in honoring certain victim groups becomes increasingly manifest in individual plaques mounted across the former concentration camp. The most spontaneous form of personal expression in dealing with the emotional and affective overload is the many graffiti leftover by visitors at the most shocking historical spots. Authorities no longer consider these visual messages mere vandalism but a testimony of confronting and challenging historical

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truth. The personal inscription on a surface, regardless of its content, aesthetic and technical quality, carries a high degree of emotional attachment. In accepting the risk of being held accountable for an unpermitted activity, people feel the urge to express themselves instantly and spontaneously by using scrawling instruments. This authentic form of communication unfolds some of the motivational aspects. It explains the level of consciousness and awareness of each individual’s reactions to the naked truth of mass murder and distinction. Unsurprisingly, many graphic representations on the wall could be more meaningful. Nevertheless, they all say something about the author’s intentions, the mood, and the sentiments they embodied at a particular time. I would not attribute these messages to historiographical validity in the narrower sense, though they add temporal and context-based documentary value to our cultural heritage. Instead, these gestures are of deep emotions where there are no other means available to comprehend the dark doings of the past manifest forever in each corner of the former concentration camp. The traces of the past amalgamates with the affective encounters of the individuals who, at this moment, are no longer reliant on the facts but the sense faculties. Likewise, these experiences alter perception by filtering and organizing information into a structured form of representation. Taking up debates in cognitive sciences about representation-formations is helpful to characterize this kind of “emotional space” people are in physically and mentally. For example, they are playing the context, the situation, and the concepts in the perception process, an essential role in verifying the entry point of meaning-making and how understanding emerges.

The role of emotions The internal, cognitive, and emotional processing after a memorial visit is, for many visitors, a challenging part to communicate and share. The momentum for expression calls for attention by utilizing the most convenient means for establishing a communicative encounter with a vis-a-vis or medium. The levels of perceptions are as diverse as

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the multisensory forms of processing, apprehending, and applying. Memorials embody a vast array of unspoken, anonymized grief and mourning that overshadows all environments where commemoration takes place beside the historical and sociocultural dimensions. With the third post-war generation, the prior dominant rationalization and suppression of emotions and feelings slowly changed. Yet not comparable with the millennials’ overuse and overexertion of emotions in the private and public domain. But the extension of the sensory and affective dimension of direct experience into the digital realm and vice versa does not halt at the technology-savvy generations. As the “connected self,” we, generation-spanning, constitute the media and public sphere through likes and dislikes, emojis, and audiovisual commenting on social media and the blogosphere. I would argue that we can no longer separate sense experiences as they become interwoven, whether real or virtual. An excellent example to illustrate this assumption is the genealogy of the visitor participation concepts of the educational team at the memorial center in Mauthausen, which sparked the initiative to search for novel forms of participation. Starting with memory stickers (Fig. 6), where visitors, after a guided tour, could express their emotions and feelings on a sheet of paper, the team continued to search for technology-enhanced and interactive possibilities for user engagement. We developed several prototypes during the concept phase in response to the need analysis, yet they became obsolete later due to legal constraints. I will introduce some of them in another chapter. Critically was the period between the visit to the memorial and the mediated discussion and reflection afterward in the memorial visitor center at a close distance from the former concentration camp. That is the time necessary to reflect, retreat, discuss, and share your impressions with others in the group, with enough time to write or draw on a small piece of paper. In that context, the period between direct sensory experience at the memorial and the interaction in verbal or written form establishes an emotional encounter nurtured by the fresh memories of immediate sensation and the cognitive elements of apprehension, mapping, and integration. Before stepping into the motivational aspects that potentially elicit interaction within a specific and designated

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environment, it deems sensible to delve into emotional research to theoretically ground our interactive room and media installation as a multifaceted space for communication and interaction. In her book “How Emotions are Made” (2017), Lisa Barrett discusses in her final chapter the theory of constructed emotion as a flashlight to focus on more significant issues of the mind and brain. (p. 279) When exploring the participation and interaction setting, I’ll refer to it as aspects of the mind as she elaborated on affective realism, concepts, and social reality. Regardless of their age and background, all visitors carry a unique mindset with different emotions, concepts, and experiences for thoughts and feelings. Each of them needs to adapt to a specific, primarily unknown environment. What comes into play when we have to challenge a few preset mental concepts, such as pleasantness and unpleasantness (valence), agitation, and calmness (arousal), is a disposition to vary between them. The complexity of the human brain allows us to learn many different concepts and invent many social realities depending on the contingencies it confronts. However, this is finite since our exposure to the outside world relies on efficiency and speed. In other words, the mode of action emanates from the human dilemma of getting along versus getting ahead. To tackle it, the culture you were born in or socialized in equipped you with a particular system of concepts, values, and practices. Concepts are noteworthy given the processing of unpleasant and discomforting sense-perception memorial visitors are exposed to. As Barrett aptly points out, “Concepts also encourage us not to see things that are present.” (Ib., 286) For example, a limited repertoire of knowing and identifying colors in a painting causes the brain to ignore the variability. Similarly, interpreting a specific facial expression, such as a concept of distress, would downplay the variation in that emotion category. Barrett’s theory of the constructed emotion is specifically interesting in that “detecting” emotions in others is impossible as there is no such a priori emotion category independent of the perceiver. In building a bridge with the constructionist approach, she argues that perceiving someone’s emotions has a social meaning and becomes scientifically relevant through an agreement among different perceivers

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and consistency with norms. The limitation of the primary emotion concept method becomes apparent when assuming a particular repertoire of emotional expressions is universally recognizable. They are not as we construct perceptions of each other’s emotions, i.e., our perception of others’ happiness and sadness means applying our concepts to their facial or bodily expressions. In other words, we use our emotional concepts toward them when we see or hear someone happy or angry. On the one hand, the notion of the intertwinings of the deceived mind and the cognition of the constructed emotions, on the other, is fundamental for mediation and memorial education. It would also advocate the multidirectional and multimodal ways of adaptive and situative arrangements for individual expressions without stereotypically emotion categories within a group. And hence it acknowledges the social and psychological dimension, the importance of culture, and concepts and emotions as constructions by core systems in the brain and body. And as Barett puts it, “from 12 neuroconstruction, it adopts the idea that experience wires the brain.” (Ib., 35) To understand the concept behind the interactive media and room installation design, I’ll draw on the motivational aspects that establish a platform for communication and elicit emotions that eventually flow into text or audio messages displayed on a screen.

Why leave a message? Why leave messages after the memorial visit? What is the motivation and triggering moment to react to something in a visible form that emotionally impacts us? Apart from a verbal expression that spontaneously comes over our lips when emotions supersede the mind, there is a desire to leave a trace perceivable to others. Graffiti is one example, even though the connotation is different. It is writing or drawing on a wall, usually without permission and within public view. One such example of legal graffiti in digital format is the interactive signing steel piece in the 9/11 Memorial Museum. Visitors can leave handwritten messages of remembrance on interactive screens stored in an archive. The digital pen stimulates

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7 The interactive signing steel piece in the 9/11 memorial. “Visitors are welcome to touch this piece of steel, sign their names and leave a message on the digital screens.” www.911memorial.org

spontaneity and immediate expression resembling the simple drawing and sketching style on paper. Memory and actuality are symbolized on the screen via different graphical layers that either highlight or blur and fade out by the date of signature. I use this example by linking it to our interactive concept and looking deeper into the emotional aspects of leaving messages in commemorative contexts. Memorials are complex entities charged with emotions, memories of the survivors and perpetrators, political and historical attributions and interpretations, and ethical, educational, and behavioral ambitions to support establishing more human societies. Getting along with the truth demands considerable effort to digest and map personal impressions with the cognitive and emotional

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8, 9 The interactive tablet in use depicts the mit-teilen-interface for leaving a text-, audio message, or drawing a picture. The visitors may spend enough time musing over unobtrusively utilizing the communication device in the booth.

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inner landscape. In conceiving the interaction concept of the installation, several concerns arose from the intertwined emotional-motivational trigger to leave a digital message after the visit. To better understand the relationship between emotion, cognition, and memory in human-computer interaction, I will borrow some of the latest findings from the Affective Sciences. Current theories of emotion pursue the intertwining of cognitive and emotional processes. (Brosch et al., 2013) Tracing, for example, the visitor’s pathways at the former concentration camp as individuals or through guided tours, the correlation of perception-emotion-attention and memory is apparent in expressing the impressions on paper or digital screen. A large amount of sensory information exceeds our brain capacities. Thus, only a portion of sense-based stimuli is available for neural processing. As we know from daily experiences, emotion-related stimuli alter our perception and attention. Whether you are stuck in a traffic jam, missing your next train, or receiving good wishes, the perception of our environment simultaneously adjusts to inciting or evaluating a specific action or situation. While the core of an emotion is the set of homeostasis-related bodily changes, emotions involve changes in the brain itself. Along with overt body changes, there are subtle changes in the brain’s functioning within those systems that support cognition, especially those that govern attention and material image production. For example, sadness is often accompanied by a reduced rate of new image formation and increased attention to those images. Happiness often accompanies the opposite circumstances: high rates of new image production and shorter attention spans. Moreover, as emotional states get established, some thoughts congruent with the emotion are evoked. For example, the feeling of sadness provokes the recall of thoughts of loss and worthlessness. In the broadest possible definition, a feeling is the perception of an emotional state, as enacted in the body, an essential content of which is the perception of some variation of the sense of pleasure or pain (establishing a connection to the subset of reward

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10 13 Schematic illustration of the impact on three stages of memory processing: 1) By prioritizing the perception of emotionally relevant information, encoding this information may be strengthened. 2) By modulating the consolidation process of emotional information via increased arousal, emotional information and memories may become more central to planning current behavior.

and aversion mechanisms that are an integral part of emotive behavior). Along with the perception of body changes, there is also a perception of a particular mode of thinking and thoughts with specific themes. Thus feeling depends on the perception of a changed body state alongside the perception of a certain style of mental processing and the production of thoughts with themes consonant with emotion. (Damasio, 2004)

If we look at the impact of emotion on perception and attention, emotion modulates our perception and attention by privileging

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especially emotionally relevant stimuli. This mechanism may help us organize the perception of our environment depending on our current needs, goals, and values. The automatic detection of emotionally relevant events allows unexpected but emotionally relevant events to be noticed readily and, once detected, become the focus of attention, evaluation, and action. (Brosch et al., 2013) In “Identity and the Museum Visitor Experience” (2009), audience researcher John Falk explains how visitors have transformative and memorable aha moments, “Every memory comes with an emotional ‘stamp’ attached to it. The stronger the emotional ‘value,’ the more likely sensory information is to pass this initial inspection and be admitted into memory.” (Ib., 147) Memories tied to emotional events, such as the birth and death of beloved ones, persist and remain vivid compared to other memories. The essential neural regions for memory processes are the hippocampus and the amygdala. The former can modulate the neural circuitry underlying memory processes during emotional situations, whereby the amygdala is central to processing explicit emotional memories via its interactions with hippocampal memory formation. (cf. Brosch et al.) Emotions can increase confidence through augmentation and recollection of memories, regardless of their correctness. Yet the vividness of emotional events is not an indicator of the memory’s accuracy. For example, participants were asked to write down exact details about an arousing event and recall the situation after a few months; the result was deteriorating memories similar to neutral events. The findings suggest that participants consider emotional memories correct even though they combine different recollections. (Talarico, Rubin, 2003) The emotion’s recollective experience is more robust than accurate, objective details. From these findings, one can conclude the user reactions and responses by interacting with a physical or virtual interface. Without categorizing the content-specific messages collected so far, there is evidence of adaptive and situative reactions to critical immediate experience and memory information from previous situations.

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4 THE PARTICIPATORY MEMORIAL, MUSEUM, INSTITUTION AND BEYOND

“Getting involved” is one of the key phrases for engaging the audiences with cultural experiences of any kind. Whether visiting a museum, a historical site, a memorial, an art fair, or an exhibition, the visitors are keen to get extra stimuli, education, and entertainment along with the shows. Drawing from my own experiences as a practitioner in art, design, and media for over 30 years, I could observe the shift from container-like and rigorously dogmatic concepts—underpinning an old paradigm of the absolute in art (Hegel’s aesthetic thought)—towards the co-existence of relational concepts amalgamated in a single exhibition. The authoritarian regime of a single central perspective on how to see and interpret the world manifested in political or ideological conformity is obsolete. On a macro scale, eradicating the Western and Eastern ideological blocks in the 1980s and postcolonial discourse (Spivak, 1988) at a larger scale contributed to a broader, less hegemonical Euro-, Western-centric cultural perspective. The increase of wealth in the industrialized nations, access of more people to higher education, and the rise of people’s social movements (Braungart, 1990) and civil engagement spurred by diverse media distribution channels created a public sphere of participation and discourse. Before going into the genealogy of the new museology concept that emerged in the 1980s, I’ll delve into my first encounters with the participatory and interactive museum. Unsurprisingly, economic prosperity and technological progress in highly industrialized nations led to the popularization and representation of new knowledge in the public domain. Similarly, scientific museums and technology education centers sprout across Europe in the late 1980s and the 14 beginning of the 90s. Identical to the thriving Technology and Science Museum in the 19th century representing the advancement of the industrial revolution, the sciences of the information age and

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digital revolution are on display in 21st-century science museums. 15 For example, the “Cité des sciences et de l’industrie” in the Parc de la Villette in Paris, inaugurated in 1986 by François Mitterrand, stood out exemplarily as the interactive science museum of the future. I remember my visit there in 1992 as my first personal encounter showcasing state-of-the-art scientific developments in a playful, explorative, and engaging mode. One of the memorable experiences that stroke me was the sound archive of speeches from historical figures. Visitors could attribute to their holographic displays a recorded voice that created a multi-sensual and immersed experience. A novelty in the museum design was the experimental lab character that approached a scientific discipline from the user’s perspective, considering different levels of engagement with interactive environments. For example, multimodal interaction on multimedia screens (a novelty at the time) with experienced-based tactile encounters, such as the experimental setups on gravity or magnetism, elicited a holistic, all-encompassing user experience. Yet, the fundamental difference between the linear and instructional museum design lies in the multidirectional and adaptive dimension of how users will access, engage and interact with the environment. Except for the classical art object, which is per se intangible and sacrosanct to outside intervention, the scientific object, exposed as the public experimental design, is inherently epistemic, explorative, and developing. Digital art, for the first time in the history of art, made a step forward to establish beyond the traditional spectator-object setting a dialogical principle of either material or immaterial interaction with the object. The scientific museums and those that display and collect 16 electronic art are bridging the gap between technological advancement and the understanding and acceptance of ordinary people. Under the umbrella of popularizing science, art, and technology, labs and publicly founded institutions are under pressure to transfer knowledge to the public. Besides the expected spin-offs to attract young people to scientific studies and career paths, these public events generate a considerably more significant impact through a public discourse on the ethical, ecological and sustainable implications of humanity’s impact on the earth. These temporal activities

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raise public awareness about pressing societal and environmental concerns affecting individuals and society. Hence, it is commonplace that experienced detriments of any kind trigger, in most cases, introspection and investigation of causes and effects. People read, listen to different opinions, and inform themselves about varying problemsolving solutions. Similarly, immediacy in our daily encounters with something causes excitement and urgency. My point here is that the more abstract and delineated from embodied experiences our interaction with the world is, the less impressive, memorable, and enlightening it is for our human faculties. In today’s parallel existence of virtual information retrieval and social networking with real life, the confrontation of actual objects 16 and people results in information overload. At the beginning of virtual museums, one concern was that people would no longer visit the physical space, and advanced web technologies would supersede on-site experiences. Similarly, the demise of book culture did not happen; on the contrary, book reading and museum visits are indispensable literacies that follow coexisting and mutually enriching learning experiences. The haptic and material contact with the surrounding things is the instant encounter with the world from early childhood—to grasp fully in the literal sense. It is not surprising that art museums implemented creative spaces for kindergarten and school children to foster multi-sensual experimental encounters with art. The educational objectives of encouraging hands-on and real-world experiences pursue the notion of intertwined aesthetic, cognitive, collaborative, motivational, and socio-cultural forms of learning, which is a central part of the participatory museum concept. A prevalent conception in the art discourse of the “educational 17 turn” since the 1990s emphasizes the process and discursive, pedagogical methods beyond the exhibition. At the center point is not the art object but the understanding and conveying of democratic principles between the artist, the artwork, the curator, and the viewer as active agents for transforming art institutions into educational platforms. These attempts to overcome hierarchical and institutional barriers resonate with the institutional critique that revived the concept of egalitarian principles in the making, exhibiting,

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12 “Educational turn” is a theme that emerged in the mid-1990s, referring to collaborative or research-based art where the impetus is on the process rather than an object-based artwork. Questions are raised about authorship, exhibition display, audience participation, and collaboration.

critiquing, and consuming art, inclusive and non-discriminational. For the institutions, as museums are, it meant a radical shift from mere instructional and informative spaces to user-centered, needsbased, and participatory approaches. The concept of “New Museology” (Vergo, 1989) emerged from the need to reform museums, which heavily relied on curatorship to sustain and expand collections. As cultural patronage prevailed for a long time, securing power and influence in which directions a museum would develop, an exclusive, elitist group of people determined the role of museums that became obsolete institutions isolated from the modern world. Looking at the role and responsibilities of museums from today’s perspective, the most significant difference from its predecessor models is the entanglement of public good and economic enterprise. A public good is a commodity or service provided without profit to all members of a society, either by the government or by a private individual or organization. It is both non-rivalrous and non-excludable. For example, if I enjoy a work of art or listen to a piece of music refers to a public good as it does not confine these experiences to

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anyone else. (cf. Lessig, 2004) Museums collect and preserve cultural artifacts as a public good, provide educational activities and informal training for all age groups, curate thematic exhibitions with appropriate scholarship, conduct applied and basic research, create digital knowledge repositories, and provide a space for public discourse. Besides museums’ epistemic, educational, and social agenda, the commercial aspects of making not only state-financed institutions more profitable require business models that draw on intellectual property rights, special editions, and limited access to, for example, rarely displayed artifacts. Apart from the manifold usage variants, the museum as a commercially exploitable venue holds crucial representation and involvement of all social classes, whether it relates to curatorial, educational, entrepreneurial, discursive, or social activities, meeting the expectations of different target groups. Yet, regarding participation, I would not go so far as to develop the idea of community participation into the quest for a radical democratization of museums as a political space. (cf. Asche et al., 2020) To me, the instruments and mechanisms applied in the proposal for a new museum definition by ICOM suggested in 2019 encompass a breath of democratic and inclusive principles: Museums are democratizing, inclusive and polyphonic spaces for critical dialogue about the past and the future. Acknowledging and addressing the conflicts and challenges of the present, they hold artifacts and specimens in trust for society, safeguard diverse memories for future generations and guarantee equal rights and equal access to heritage for all people. Museums are not for profit. They are participatory and transparent and work in active partnership with and for diverse communities to collect, preserve, research, interpret, exhibit, and enhance understandings of the world, aiming to contribute to human dignity and 18 social justice, global equality, and planetary wellbeing. Interestingly, The International Council of Museums members could not agree on the proposed definition. Yet, the following excerpts from

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people working in different museum areas resonate with many of the essential parts of this proposal. Recently, the media has been inundated with “Instagram-worthy pop-up” museums. Most of these are not museums, as they do not showcase a collective history or even an education concept. These experiences—which they are at their core—are interactive fun zones and insult the museum community when called a museum. As a culture, we are moving away from the museum and toward entertainment, more interested in taking photos and creating a sophisticated facade rather than learning. We must strip away the attempt to be foremost entertainment and remember that we are the “keepers of collective memory.” Yes, museums must make money to exist; however, we have diverged into a pure entertainment experience and have forgotten our roots. (Gossett, 2019) Museums are places for viewing, interpreting, and learning. They are spaces to absorb and ingest content from specific periods and file it away into the recesses of our brains. Most museums have traditionally presented as “neutral” information deliverers. Many now intentionally address political, social, and cultural issues like inclusion and diversity, traditionally given as “neutral” information providers. Many now intentionally address political, social, and cultural issues like inclusion, diversity, and acceptance. This shift, in lockstep with social movements such as #MeToo, gender, orientation, and identity acceptance, Black Lives Matter, decolonization, feminism, gun reform, and others positions museums as central in complex, controversial conversations. Museums have been forced to adjust from a neutral stance on the content they display and topics that directly relate to it to acknowledging the societal context in which they present their work. No longer can an institution mount an exhibition without

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considering the implications on broad audiences, the conversations it will start, and potential controversial repercussions.  Therefore, the new definition of museums should be as such: Museums are inclusive non-profit institutions that introduce and present artifacts, artworks, and ideas from across cultures, heritages, and societies for education and enjoyment. Museums address issues from the past and present through content and present work within the context of contemporary society to spark dialogue, provide opportunities for interpretation, and celebrate diverse audiences. (Friedman, 2019) Given the numerous interpretation of what a museum can and should be, it is no surprise that common grounds for a unifying definition is unreachable. Museums embody diversity and participatory elements that also foster active learning, considering the actions of engagement with the environment as a co-evolving process between the participants by stimulating dialogue, discussion, and reflection. To achieve long-lasting and memorable effects on visitors, new thought-provoking and inspirational spaces for engaging with diverse audiences are necessary to spark new ideas on how social and cultural progress can be made. Creating communities of learners, practitioners, and researchers as part of the museum experiences can elicit new connections, transforming real-world discussion with digital technologies beyond the institutional, regional, and national context. Digital transformation permeates all institutions; thus, developing interactive exhibitions responsive to broader digital community engagement and cooperation is inevitable for progressing the participatory museum. What has been discussed here for the participatory museum applies significantly to the objectives of the memorial in Mauthausen. As this place has become a multifaceted environment for commemoration, preservation, research, and education, many of the “turns” that came along with the institutional transformation from conservation to participation also apply to memorials. In the following, some of the prevalent concepts and action plans that contextualize

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the interwoven educational and historical responsibilities will be programmatically outlined and aligned with the interactive vision of our media installation.

Participative encounters at the Mauthausen memorial The social, political, and ethical dimensions are of the memorial’s mission to raise awareness for the broadest possible target groups, do justice, and honor survivors’ voices through their active involvement. Their personal and collective memories impact the memorial’s research and education through communicative encounters about their stories and the participation of relatives and descendants to keep their memories alive, aligning with the leitmotif “engaging with the past in the light of the present.” What has been methodologically challenging is the diversity of visitor profiles and reaching out to those with migration backgrounds whose approach is different compared to Austria’s history-laden past. Getting these groups involved in discussions and creating awareness about the historical crime and guilt of a nation they do not consider their cultural heritage requires sensible means of socio-cultural and historical transfer of past and current crimes against humanity. Managing the balancing act between the commemoration and awareness-creating of the darkest chapter in society and real-world or mediated experiences with violation of human rights, dignity, and integrity need novel forms of inclusive and barrier-free participation and interaction. They are subsumed in the position paper as themes, including, for example, “participation opportunities for visitors or target groups,” “discussion of current socially relevant themes in educational work,” or “removing barriers in educational work.” To pursue erecting a robust fundament of political and social responsibility, the ethical, historical, and discursive dimensions are equally important pillars for official policies and civic engagement. Education is an essential cornerstone to embracing agency that informs moral, historical,

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and political conscience and is embedded in confrontation with research-informed knowledge of historical facts. A memorial is also a place for dialogue, discussion, and transfer of the contemporary memorial objectives in engaging with the general public to encourage discourse via different media channels, conferences, and exhibitions at regional, national, and international levels. Similar to what has been discussed as unifying elements for future-oriented museum policies, the participatory and interactive components to engage with diverse target groups require constant scrutiny for improvement. Some of the programmatic educational aims listed on the pedagogical plan address the involvement of visitors in dialogue and expand their options for participation, whereby tailored activities for different target groups will shape the discussions’ depth, contents, and methodology. An essential part plays the mediators whose predominantly voluntary work is driven by the overarching message of “Never again,” reaching out to target groups, thereby exploring the situated and adaptive abilities and capacities to handle specific aspects and topics of the former concentration camp. With the introduction of the first iWalk in Austria, “Mauthausen Memorial. Traces of a Crime,” available as an app, self-exploration and historical learning opened up new terrains, terra incognitas on the site easily overlooked by most visitors. Video of witnesses and documentary pictures shape a complementary understanding of some of the hidden places and objects in the former concentration camp. Interacting with the app, exploring and reflecting on a list of questions expands the notion of audio-guided tours from receptive into participatory and active learning modes. Learning translates into a trajectory of the memorial’s history from a scene of the holocaust to a place of commemoration, education, and discourse on the contemporary significance of crimes against humanity. Being connected with mediated memories from witnesses and historical facts from the app becomes complementary yet need to be substitutable for an immediate multi-sensual experience on the spot.It will shape and contribute to the collective memory and alter the general public’s understanding of the past, as well as strengthening or challenging historical narratives strengthen or challenge

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historical narratives and historical records. The Mauthausen memorial’s participatory and interactive approach fosters a hybrid form of interconnected mediation and educational methods supporting an integrative meaning-making process. In places of transmission, interpretation, and commemoration of a shared past, sole mediated memory would generate short-lived experiences to generate collective identity. A study from Papailias (2016) of online memorials demonstrates the dislodging of narrative modes of remembrance in favor of an incomplete and short-term bricolage of emotional tributes and personal witnessing. This observation resonates with the long-term memorial concept objectives to respect the subjectivity, diversity, and needs of the different target groups in their approach to potential historical, ethical, and political awareness-raising processes. Each target group perceives and reacts differently to the memorialsite-specific challenges of mass murder and extinctions manifested in the extant buildings of the former concentration camp. As the expectations and motivations before visiting this place vary, the disposition to engage with and the degree of getting involved cannot be estimated regardless of individual or group visits. However, what can be concluded from target-specific feedback is that guided tours and school student groups transform into communicating vessels creating a situative space of participation depending on the context of the inquiry, discussion, information, and knowledge exchange. Aside from the immediate experience in situ, additional means of communication may accommodate an individual’s multimodal learning style. (e.g., audioguides), The embodied self resonates with the enactive (Varela et al., 1992) and the participatory sense-making approach (Di Paolo, 2007), where qualitative experiences emerge from an individual’s active perception-action and interaction with real-world encounters. Other than ephemeral and transient online experiences, generating significance or meaning occurs via dynamic coupling between different agents and the environment resulting in social interaction—eventually, transforming into participatory co-development of the memorial’s objectives and responsibilities.

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5 MEDIATED MEMORIES Along with our research and needs analysis, we came across the interactive audio/video booth “Projected Memory”—first installed at Sachsenhausen in 2013—was an initiative meant to enable and encourage visitors to reflect on the meaning of their visits to memorials and museums through recording their thoughts and feelings in a semi-private, interactive audio/video booth. In his reflections about one year’s work at the memorial museum, the project’s founder explains his initial motivation, rationale, and background based on his observations and the need to “discuss not only what happened here, but also what happens to me when I am 19 here.” Marianne Hirsch distinguishes between different kinds of memories in her article “Projected Memory: Holocaust Photographs in Personal 20 and Public Fantasy.” She uses, for example, the term post-memory “to describe the relationship of children of survivors of cultural or collective trauma to their parents’ experiences, experiences that they’d remember only as the stories and images with which they grew up.” Postmemory, in her words, is not an identity position but a space of remembrance, available through public and cultural, and not merely individual and personal, acts of remembrance, identification, and projection. It is a question of adapting the traumatic experience—and thus also the memories—of others as one’s own, or, more precisely, as experiences one might have had, and inscribing them into one’s own life story. It relates to conceiving oneself as multiply interconnected with others of the same, of previous, and subsequent generations, of the same and other—mate or distant cultures, and post-memory can serve as a model. As I can “remember” my parents’ memories, I can also not forget the sufferings of others. Through discursively implanted memories, the subject can participate in the desires, struggles, and sufferings 21 of the “other”—particularly, in Silverman’s examples, the culturally devalued and persecuted other. In her words, the subject can

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engage with others without interiorizing their emotions and feelings, what she calls “identification at a distance.” Heteropathic memory (feeling and suffering from the other) is the ability to say, “It could have been me, it was me, also,” and, at the same time, “but it was not me.” In the case of Holocaust memory, the break between then and now, between the one who lived it and the one who did not, remains monumental and impossible, even as the heteropathic imagination struggles to overcome it. Postmemory describes the relationship that the “generation after” bears to the personal, collective, and cultural trauma of those who came before—to experiences they “remember” only using the stories, images, and behaviors. However, these experiences were transmitted 22 to them so profoundly to constitute memories in their own right. The media installation Projected Memory aims to collect authentic voices on either audio or video from visitors to the former concentration camp. In applying that context, the heteropathic memory concept would imply that the visitors empathize with the sufferings of the victims, and their audio and video recordings of feelings and emotions would represent the victims, survivors, and relatives. Ultimately, a parallel virtual collection of visitor’s audiovisual responses are to emerge, establishing a user-generated exhibition space:

At a later stage, a selection of visitor messages saved under the “Public” setting will be returned to the booth so that visitors can watch and listen to messages left by others, either before or after leaving new ones to watch and listen to messages left by others, either before or after leaving new ones of their own. And the messages left by visitors themselves in real-time response to an experience and perhaps in response to other visitor messages will become an organic and collaborative “exhibit” where the collected impressions of visitors themselves become an ongoing part of the museum or exhibition space and, in that sense a collective memorial.

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Particular museums may want to build targeted questions into the user interface that will enable the institution to grasp better 23 the impact it is (or is not) making on its visitors. The problematics in watching visual representations of other people captured in a moment of authentic expression entails layers of violating intimacy and the private sphere and disrupts the original intent. From a semantic point of view, the audiovisual recordings and representations on the screen lose their relationship with immediate experiences from the concentration camp if visitors were to react solely digitally. The reference system is no longer the “real” but mediated objects, generating permutations of virtual interactions with a mediated vis-avis. The relationship between the narrators and the audience distracts as the focal point shifts toward mere self-representations. In this context, disrespect and misinterpretation of personal messages may occur as respondents eventually spot something in the appearance of the narrators that has nothing to do with the story itself. The visitor’s videos of feelings and emotions triggered at the site visit may work as a contemporary document for the digital memory culture. Unlike real-life discussion forums, it won’t work as a digital means of communication and dialogue. Coevally, mechanisms of attention economy prevalent in social media and popular media culture would evoke crowded anti-semitic and xenophobic attitudes like, for example, the Holocaust debate. Another concern about annotating and commenting on video messages is misuse and malicious content, such as in online discussion threads, which require filtering methods and moderation. As for the digital archive, fast and precise information retrieval is a prerequisite to ascribing digital artifacts’ scientific value and user-friendly access. In this vein, The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance puts forward clear guidelines for the use of social media in Holocaust education: Trends such as Holocaust denial, diminishment, and trivialization are rampant on the Internet, and social media can introduce

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projectedmemory.org

Space to Think We designed a booth that allows visitors to grapple with their thoughts and emotions and make a different kind of memorial to human rights, empathy, and active citizenship. The semi-private space is inviting, discreet and wheelchair accessible, and somewhat insulated against sound.

A Participatory & Language-Based Memorial How do you say “Never Again” in Xhosa? How do we use words, expressions, and gestures to convey emotions like grief, sadness, hope, and empathy? Let’s track the evolution of society’s interpretation of an event over time.

A “Future History” Archive Choosing between different saving settings allows visitors to determine how accessible their message will be. Over time, these collected impressions will inform us about the ways we consider significant historical events and their emotional, intellectual, and educational impact on us.

Shifting the Paradigm Visitors to memorials often expect to see grisly artifacts from the past—as if to confirm the means of violence that they’ve only read about and struggle to accept. Projected Memory aims to interrupt this pattern by providing a space and a challenge to think. Visitors expect to see gas chambers; they do not necessarily expect to encounter a dedicated space in which to voice their thoughts, thereby reanimating a fragment of the empathy and creativity that was previously destroyed on site.

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these topics to students and give them unwarranted prominence. Moreover, social media is typically seen as a platform for entertainment—the purview of pop culture, not learning and intel24 lectual debate. The use of interactive digital technologies in public memory institutions aims to a great extent, a constructivist educational approach “allowing for greater visitor agency and interactivity in the learning process is, arguably, reflected in the many forms of conventional and computer-mediated interactivity within the museum.” Reading’s 25 study dwells on the different levels of Interactivity at the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Multi-media Learning Center. Learning takes place at various levels of user participation, for example, through peoples’ voting on contemporary racism and tolerance. However, indisputable is the factual information that confronts visitors as the pervading message for not forgetting. That does not contrast with the non-linear and explorative pathways of the multimedia environment, yet suggests that the truth about one of the vicious crimes in humanity is not changeable or replaceable in a game-like mode. That brings me to the core problem of connecting current communication tools and user behavior with historically charged environments such as former concentration camps, where remembrance, education, and compassionate feelings toward the victims are inseparable from the location for commemoration. Visitors take selfies and share pictures and comments on social networks, contributing to a vast and uncontrollable array of virtual data prone to malpractice. We confront a wider ontological and epistemological debate when drifting away from the reality of what has happened and the instruments and mechanisms of what has transferred into cultural memory, heritage and artifacts. Memory cultures rely on mediated multimodal information that changes over time due to changes in media technologies and the diversity of distribution channels and accessibility by many more people over the last decades. Consequently, how media content is produced and distributed alters the perception and meaning-making

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processes, especially when virtual reality experiences disconnect from the real world. Using the example from “The Light in the Dar26 kness,” a video game co-written by a Holocaust survivor, intends to educate the Millennials to think and learn about the Holocaust and Anti-semitism. The hope relating to this game is that young people will create empathy with the characters that embody a true story. In parallel to the educational approach, the authors aim to dispel stereotypes in WWII video games of American soldiers killing Nazis while ignoring the horrors of the Holocaust. On a controversial note, though, popular culture belittles the evil of war crimes like the cartoon-like zombie Nazis in “Call of Duty and Wolfenstein.” It is a thin line between sanitizing and reality check of the greatest war crime in human history—and it is doubtful whether virtual gaming and simulations can carry on cultural memory and commemoration. In his article “Transnational Holocaust Memory, Digital Culture 27 and the End of Reception Studies”, Wulf Kansteiner speculates about the future of memory culture as “immersive, simulative and possibly also counterfactual digital memory.” He attributes social networking, gaming, and academic exchange as a “transnationally shared, passionately pursued and perhaps self-critically inflected memory practice.” Kansteiner claims that Holocaust memory requires a complete relaunch in the digital age as future technology-savvy generations will approach collective memory differently. As for all historical events, the farther they are temporally away, the likelihood of forgetting is. In virtual gaming scenarios, simulating a second life-like narration, facts may easily drift into the slippery grounds of personal myths and storytelling detached from the historical truth. Given that many Holocaust scholars still allude to the paradoxical notion of “repre28 senting the unrepresentable” any kind of historiographical, literary, or artistic techniques are inadequate to represent the Holocaust, or in the words of Theodor W. Adorno (1949), “To write a poem after 29 Auschwitz is barbaric.” Digital cultures may complement the audiovisual representation of the Holocaust, genocide, and other crimes against humanity.

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Nevertheless, they will not replace individual and collective education practices, commemoration, and memory at regional, national, and international levels. Undoubtedly, Generation Y and the following generations are the future co-creators of collective memory and remembrance practices echoing contemporary discourse and traditions as previous generations did. Beyond the institutional memory policies in the perpetrator countries that tie to a post-war commemoration, education, and preservation, the public discourse about the Holocaust is less noticeable unless antisemitic activities hit the news headlines. A distinction between the “official” media and publication channels that connect to the digital archives and the web presence of memorials and private opinions deems necessary for the critical and methodological analysis of malicious content on the internet. Other distinctions pertain to digital representations in game-like or interactive multiuser dungeons environments with limited control of misbehavior and legal consequences. Let us look into the vast amount of digital online platforms, apps, and tools. The question is how technology can simplify access to more complex data and information. I would not allude to Holocaust documentation and education as a sole digital media-transfer-related discussion for the millennials and subsequent generations. And if so, novel media literacies are indispensable to confront the unleashing information flood on the internet. Using the example of Yolocaust (a portmanteau of Yolo—You only live once—and Holocaust), a project from Shahak Shapira that “explored our commemorative culture by combining selfies from the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin with footage from Nazi extermination camps. The selfies came from Facebook, Instagram, Tinder, and Grindr. Comments, hashtags, and ‘Likes’ posted with the selfies are 30 also included.” He intended to shed light on the disrespectfulness of young visitors trampling around and taking selfies on the concrete steles in the sloping fields of the monument. The educational impetus was to confront the unwitting selfie-takers with the cruelty of the Holocaust by replacing the memorial’s background with corpses and emaciated bodies. As Shapiro mentions, “The page was visited by over 2.5 million people. The crazy thing is

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14 Shapira’s answer to the behavior of the visitors of the memorial that he thinks is inappropriate. He combined tourists’ selfies with archive photographs from German concentration camps. For example, the two men are jumping not over the blocks of concrete but over a pile of dead bodies.

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that the project reached all 12 people whose selfies were presented. Almost all of them understood the message, apologized, and decided to remove their selfies from their personal Facebook and Instagram profiles.” Concluding from his résumé, the project’s impact on researchers, victims’ family members, and teachers went far beyond his expectations. Yolocaust works here, exemplifying how the real and virtual worlds interact. However, under different premises, they converge into a platform of discourse based on concrete examples of misbehavior and disrespect at Holocaust memorial sites. From this example, one possible conclusion is that if a public discussion is avoided through rigid filtering regulations, they are more vulnerable to drift into illegal grounds, radical tendencies, and obscureness. Even though similar occurrences are likely to happen in the future, people at the memorials and museums may develop awareness to prevent repeat offenses. To broaden the discussion of what happens in networked and ubiquitous online communities, e.g., how these media realities impact the current understanding of memory culture, renders essential to rethink the archive as a dynamic enterprise, holding Yolocaust in its archives. One of the many comments he received 31 somehow backups my arguments:

Thank you for your web exhibition and for using these images to raise consciousness. I, too, was struck by the irreverence of visitors to the memorial on several occasions, and I think your web exhibition deserves a permanent home at the memorial. My entire family originated from Hamburg-Altona, and I never thought I would feel comfortable visiting Germany. Still, indeed, I was—solely because the Germans have gone to such lengths to understand, commemorate, and redress the actions of former generations. Your work supports the moral clarity our world needs so desperately.

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Thank you for channeling your outrage into something so impactful and using your creativity to send a clear message rather than resorting to less effective and aggressive means. You have demonstrated with this project that it is possible to say a great deal with very few words. I am not a douche. I am just here to thank you with all my heart for making this disturbing paradox public. I walk past the memorial every day, and I am confused and saddened to see the mixture of disrespectfulness, lack of knowledge, and self-promotion in many visitors’ behavior. Your work sends a powerful message. I cannot understand how people could take selfies in such a place. Thank you for bringing this behavior to the world’s attention. Thanks for encouraging the awareness and respect that such a monument commands. If we can’t acknowledge and respect the past, we have very little hope for the future.

Shapira’s motivation to start the project arose from his observa32 tions of inappropriate selfies at the Holocaust memorial he witnessed weekly on social media. As a resident of Berlin, he encountered disrespectful behaviors on the spot, followed by pictures taken by young people who, in part of ignorance and historical illiteracy, shared their selfies on social media. His awareness-creating campaign to reach out to the young producers instills a way forward toward an individual and collective spirit of remembrance. This example pointedly demonstrates the urgency to invest more in education about places of commemoration and the Holocaust specifically.

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6 LIVING MEMORIES

Keeping victim’s memories alive As several Holocaust researchers and historians point out, the difficulties of reaching out to younger generations gradually getting alienated from the dark side of their home countries’ histories lie in the vanishing of living memory. The remaining survivors will soon die due to their advanced age, and the more important is to tell and record their stories for future generations. The survivor voices will remind us about the unimaginable atrocities individuals were suffering. One such voice is from Klaus Stern, recalling him as a young married man in Berlin in 1942. He talks about the sudden loss of friends, his ostracization, deportation to Auschwitz, separation from his wife and reunion with her after having survived concentration camps, and their final emigration to Seattle, where they were the first Holocaust 33 survivors to settle. In his short video clip, Mr. Stern talks about how he lost his best friend, Walter, “…we went to concerts and games and movies, and one day called my best friend to me to say, Klaus, I can’t play with you anymore.” I say, “What are you talking about? We’re the best of friends; we never argued about what’s going on with you?” “I have to tell you the truth. I have to join Hitler Youth, like anybody else. And if anybody sees me playing, going out to concerts, or movies, 34 going out with a Jewish boy, my parents might lose their business.” From the survivors’ voices and individual stories, the next generations may experience and empathize with their fates and experiences as survivors of prosecution, injustice, and violence. It becomes part of collective memory and an integral building block in education and memory culture. One of the largest databases of video interviews with Holocaust survivors is the Fortunoff Video Archive for 35 Holocaust Testimonies. Yale University’s database contains approximately 4,500 video interviews with Holocaust survivors over

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12,000 hours, including 22 languages. The interviewees report on their survival in hiding in concentration and extermination camps and their experiences as resistance fighters and liberators. The interview method in the videos emphasizes the survivors structuring their narratives and life stories. The database is a pioneering project in audiovisual oral history. The world’s largest archive of audiovisual testimonies of survivors and witnesses to genocide is held by the “USC Shoah Foundation—The Institute for Visual History and Education,” which puts storytelling at the heart of its purpose to use its ever-growing collection of inter36 views for education, research, and action. It is a unique organization fostering a combination of vision and intellectual, digital and physical assets to inspire people to take the future into their own hands, so the terrors of the past will not repeat. The Visual History Archive contains more than 114,000 hours of testimony—a dozen years. The institute aptly demonstrates investments in a highly sophisticated patented search engine. Students and researchers may use an indexing capability with over 64,000 keywords and phrases, 1.8 million names, and over 710,000 images. As the archive’s objectives suggest, it will preserve the faces and voices of the people who witnessed history, allowing their firsthand stories to enlighten and inspire action against intolerance for generations to come. As we discussed before, the necessity to innovate in digital memory culture is a prerequisite to getting the testimonies understood and contextualized with the history of the Holocaust. The virtual reality component the institute will utilize builds on software that records hundreds of questions from 12 Holocaust survivors. With a complex algorithm, it is possible to respond in real-time to questions asked by 37 students far into the future to have their own “virtual conversations.” That approach resonated with my understanding of transferring living memory into a multidirectional conversation format. Institutional accessibility, regardless of its physical and virtual location, is inextricably connected with the liability and validity of such resources for research and education. It is less surprising that most recorded testimonies are in the language of the countries survivors migrated to or had to flee. One can see and hear about the poignancy of their

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memories, even more so searching for the right words in a foreign language to express their feelings and emotions. Those survivors who stayed in their home countries, which later became the countries of their perpetrators, gained WWII belated reparation, tribute, memorials, and commemoration. Yet, it took another two generations in postwar Germany and Austria to broaden the discussion, representation, and documentation of the Holocaust. Digital media and the internet paved the way to connect databases, people, and institutions to share information and knowledge for multifunctional purposes. Exemplarily for such cooperation 38 and exchange is the online learning platform ”Zeugen der Shoah.” (“Witnesses of the Holocaust”) This project builds on DVD editions for educational purposes developed at the Freie Universität Berlin, containing 903 interviews and transcriptions in German and 47 in other languages from the collection of the USC Shoah Foundation. 39 In the publication project “Preserving Survivor’s Memories,” some of the digital and educational challenges addressed to raise the necessity to find ways for contextualization and meaning-making of audiovisual material for several academic disciplines. Non-verbal communication, listening, and visual communication are equally important for research as verbal expressions for studying phonetic patterns of sighs, silences, and laughter. (Scagliola, de Jong et al., 2016) Like all scientific disciplines and research areas, specialization and subsequent fragmentation of knowledge require robust methodological frameworks with aligned vocabularies and taxonomies for information retrieval and contextualization with adjacent fields. Data creation along different stages of project conceptualization, including target audiences, interview methods, utilization of metadata schemes, and the kind of interfaces a variety of user groups will access. Mazé defines, for example, Metadata for Oral History: Broadly understood, metadata makes possible the discovery of themes and meaningful relationships within interviews, among sets of interviews, and with other digitally represented resources.

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16 At the beginning of the interviews, a sheet of paper pops up, resembling a clapperboard mentioning the place, date, survivor’s, and interviewer’s name.

New digital tools are being developed to enhance the accessibility of oral history interviews in various media and forms and to 40 analyze and understand them in ever-greater contexts.

The database logic segments chunks of search-based information, creating an entirely different form of perceiving and contextualizing testimonies. It makes a massive difference if you view full-length testimonies or search fragments of interviews through keywords. 41 As Keilbach puts it rightly, it implies a change in attitude between “inserting a video cassette into a VCR, and preparing to watch a video about which one only knows that it will contain the testimony of a Holocaust survivor, and clicking a keyword that triggers a brief

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interview excerpt.” The fragmentation of discrete digital information of Holocaust testimonies opens up discussions on deteriorating the original intention in the videotaped recordings giving voice to the 42 survivors as “whole human beings.” Using the Holocaust survivor’s testimonies’ video examples from USC Shoah Foundation from 1996—one of them I like to elaborate on—most striking, from today’s perspective, is the homely settings and interview arrangements. The interviewees are asked several times about their and relatives’ names, birthdates, and place of birth and 43 to spell them. At the beginning of the interviews, a sheet of paper pops up, resembling a clapperboard mentioning the place, date, survivor’s, and interviewer’s name. In the next scene, both parties introduce themselves, whereby spelling their name is hard to grasp as it would be easier to read from paper. The plain character of the observational documentary manifests in uncut tape changes the interviewer explains to the visa-a-vis before starting a new sequence. Approaching the end of the interviews, the family members come into the picture, and a moment of relief and the prospect of hope emerges. The questions gradually expand to the survivor’s children, their spouses, and grandchildren sharing their emotions and feelings about inextricably the passing on of traumatic experiences and the process of reconciliation with the past. These interviews are single-recorded in one session, with one or more interviewers and one or more interviewers; the original recording may be contained on one or more tapes or may consist of one 44 or more digital audio files. Personal testimonies from the survivors convey an extraordinary power of authenticity of personal memories that makes us understand and empathize with their experiences and current life situations in the shadow of the Holocaust. James Young sees the advantages of video testimonies by recording gestures, movements, and expressions as an additional layer of 45 interpretation. The fixed camera position and interview situation, capturing the witnesses’ emotional involvement, may generate affective sympathy in the viewer. Using close-ups creates a sense of unmediated affectedness that “affects us viscerally, evoking parasympathetic 46 responses over which viewers have little control.”

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As technologies change over time similarly, the means and methods of testimonies’ documentation alter and transform the messages and meaning-making processes. Undoubtedly, watching the analog video documentations require the viewer to take enough time to follow and understand the personal fate-related complexity of survivors’ testimonials. The whole narrative contains the subtleness of the untold through emotions and gestures, and the subtexts to decode demand empathic understanding from us. At the same time, media technologies changed the way how we access, perceive, and communicate audiovisual information, becomes more and more context- and search-based depending on specific queries; with the tremendous online data collection of testimonies, the organization and classification of archived material produced vocabularies and taxonomies for efficient search retrieval. Understanding the changing aspects of preserving, documenting, and researching historical facts inevitably connects with the challenging properties of maintaining a digital archive to secure dynamic knowledge and information. It will benefit ongoing research and supplement missing links by combining oral and written history as a co-evolving process. In the public domain, social media and the permanent flow (re-)distributing instant video and text messages about “everything” does not halt in front of culturally sensitive environments and topics. Holocaust education and awareness-raising initiatives and interventions on the web (Yolocaust) are appropriate means to broaden the discussion on the current reception of the Shoah and sensitization with recurring Anti-Semitism. However, it is important to differentiate between the archival and the discursive level of paying tribute to and preserving the survivor’s voices for present and future generations. Having the limits of digital media in mind, novel forms of rendering Holocaust survivors more tangible, immediate, and accessible can offer a bridge between the sufferings of the victims and develop higher consciousness for subsequent generations not to repeat what their ancestors did. The limitations of digital media need to be kept in mind by intending to render the Holocaust more tangible, immediate, and accessible for younger people. Digital culture may spur the vast spectrum of

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denial, indifference, degradation, and disrespect against victims and their descendants for sharing fetishized Nazism. That reinforces antisemitic beliefs or denies the Holocaust’s very occurrence, what Alvin H. Rosenfeld dubbed “the end of the Holocaust in the public consciousness, brought about by denial, indifference, misrepresentations, and degrading attitudes—including those expressed in tasteless 47 ‘Holocaust jokes’ that permeate the Internet.”

The “Virtual Real”— a means of authentic experience for future generations As discussed, the voices of the survivors of the Holocaust must be preserved and passed on to future generations. As the world around us becomes digitally responsive and connected, the quest to find appropriate means of interaction demands the combination of information, interaction, and interface. Like non-linear storytelling, visitors in memorial centers and museums can follow their narrative catalog of questions that may match the recorded testimonies. “USC Shoah Foundation’s Dimensions in Testimony” enables people to ask questions that prompt real-time responses from pre-recorded video interviews with Holocaust survivors and other witnesses to genocide. The pioneering project integrates advanced filming techniques, specialized display technologies, and next-generation natural language processing to create an interactive biography. Museum-goers, students, and others can have conversational interactions with 48 these eyewitnesses to history to learn from those who were there.” Each recorded testimony enables viewers to ask questions of the survivor and hear responses similar to live conversations. A greenscreen environment surrounded by more than 116 cameras allows different positioning and angles. (volumetric capturing) Up to 2000 questions and answers are separately recorded and stored in a database. The list of responses is retrievable via natural-language technology. Questions translate into search terms, and the software

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17 Eva Schloss, an Auschwitz survivor and the posthumous stepsister of Anne Frank, also spent hours on a light stage recording her testimony for the project.

then matches queries of the visitors’ questions to the most suitable interviewee responses. Concomitantly, the associated video clip creates a conversational-like experience. It is a “learning system” that collects each query and answer, and if necessary human support next to machine learning enables the most appropriate response to each question. The project approach aims at preserving a dialogic and interactive experience with Holocaust survivors that contrasts with the classic linear interview style. The educational objectives reflect authentic and self-directed learning experiences that build on active engagement based on individual interests and backgrounds. “The educational Dimensions in Testimony program allows students to deepen their understanding of the Holocaust and its human impact and reflect on the importance 49 of active citizenship.” Critics might consider this project primarily a technology one, yet the concept emerged from the outset in close cooperation with the

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Holocaust survivors. This co-developing process led to close collaboration between the USC Shoah Foundation team, the interviewees, and family members. It is noteworthy that during the postproduction phase, no editing, altering, or manipulating of the interviewees took place to preserve the integrity of their voices for future generations. As we can deduce from these examples, preserving the survivors’ knowledge and personal experiences is the main challenge for future generations. It is not only getting their voices heard as a living and authentic experience to honor and sustain their memories as sources of suffering, inhuman war crimes, and genocide. Another aspect points to education about how, why, and for what purposes we deal with these eyewitness testimonies. One way of doing this is actively engaging different audiences by learning from direct experience at memorials and museums. The other approach is mediated transfer utilizing digital technologies to generate ubiquitous, interactive, and interconnected experiences with audiovisual representations. Here we can see a twofold development, one that converges old and new media as part of the digitalization and archiving efforts, the other one as becoming part of the gaming and entertainment industry as a tribute to the technology-savvy millennial generation. Is the first path an endeavor to break down the narratives into meta-levels of scientific inquiry, taxonomy, and vocabulary for storing and retrieval in databases? A different direction would suggest a seamless undistorted documentary of the survivor’s testimony. It remains to be seen and analyzed over a more extended period to what extent interactive dialogue with a virtual vis-a-vis will generate comprehensive learning experiences. My concern with non-linear storytelling in the project Dimensions in Testimony is the “simulation dilemma.” If you play a computer game, you would not expect real-life representations; instead, hyperreal resemblances of real-world characters. The simulation works fine if you accept that the game characters do not signify the real. Non-linearity in interactive inquiry settings such as the USC Foundation project may irritate the visitors as they enter a simulative dialogue pretending to interact with a living person conversationally. Communication involves multi-sensual

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18 The special installation “New Dimensions in Testimony,” on view at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New Yourk through April 2018, is an interactive experience. Museum visitors ask questions of Holocaust survivors Eva Schloss and Pinchas Gutter, and see what the future of testimony looks like.

experiences beyond the cognitive. Meta-communication plays an even more essential role in decoding and encoding nonverbal cues such as tone, body language, gestures, and facial expressions. The latency time between verbal inquiry and response that requires the best possible matching with the tagged video snippets cause lagging we all experience as a disturbing interruption in virtual communication. This inquiry-based and user-directed approach of reflection, curiosity, and personal interest emphasizes individual responsibilities in confronting existing stereotypes, wrong or misleading assumptions, and belief systems that shy away from the truth about what Holocaust survivors and war victims had to go through. Materializing and contextualizing the past with new media as a tool for reviving memories is the main benefit for current and future generations, as it would otherwise get lost in the annals of history.

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7 LIVING ARCHIVES AS A MEANS OF COLLECTIVE MEMORY

Digital archives are becoming the core of every cultural institution for education, research, knowledge generation, and information sources for the general public. It was a big step from the analog to the digital world. It converted texts, photographs, movies, and music held by museums, archives, or libraries into immaterial and reproducible digital information. The potential of the digital transformation of cultural heritage has been widely acknowledged and broadly discussed in research and cultural practices. (Kremers et al., 2020) The internet has established a global community of users who engage with different media and online communication, using search engines for information and social media to share, and comment on. It has long gone from collecting digital data stored on the local server and shared within local networks towards online presentation, archiving, and information retrieval based on metadata, standardized taxonomies, and vocabularies. The history of the online digital archive and crowdsourcing user participation wiki marked a new era of usergenerated content driven by social media and mobile applications. Digital archives’ history parallels the development of communication means, methods, and practices. From the communication model perspective, email as a one-way communication means corresponds with the library’s early on-site borrowing and lending procedures. You submit a search query and will retrieve an answer about the availability and location in response. Early search engines operated manually in a similar vein as the number of sites they could index was limited. It was then a subjective human decision which websites were considered more relevant than others under which criteria. Take the first web catalogs from Yahoo in the 1990s or the Open Directory Project. (dmoz.org) Yahoo received thousands of site submissions daily for individual examination and editorial judgment. With the support of the users suggesting new categories, a collaborative model of user participation and catalogers

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who organized the submissions by subject emerged. I bring up this example from the Web 1.0 era as it demonstrates the co-evolving principles of collecting and indexing information, similar to the archival work of creating subject hierarchies or hierarchical organizations. (e.g., Arts: Humanities–Photography–Architecture…). Web 2.0 paved the way for interactive user-generated content driven by creating, commenting, sharing, and evaluating digital information at the intersection of human-machine intelligence, making communication unthinkable and indispensable from technology. The Wisdom of the Crowd (Surowiecki, 2004), Wikinomics (Tapscott et al.), and P2P (Bauwens et al., 2019) synonymously stands for the collective vs. the individual as to be more capable in problem-solving, decision-making, innovating, and predicting. Benkler’s (2006) commons-based peer production (CBPP) similarly asserts value creation and distribution through P2P infrastructure individuals could self-organize and co-create non-rivalrous use-value utilizing digital commons of knowledge, software, and design. In museum contexts, user participation and user-generated content have been utilized as a tool for immediate response and feedback in, for example, exploring the potential of social tagging and folksonomy. Tagging can be considered a method to bridge the semantic gap between the experts’ knowledge and professional dis50 course and the museum visitor’s popular language. The meaning-making of tags relies on the artifacts and objects connected; otherwise, buzzwords and random verbal expressions can be misleading. Especially in the museum and gallery context, texting alone conflicts with the multitude of opportunities to comment, share, and emojitize audiovisual content on social media platforms as an immediate response to sensational and emotional experiences in front of an artwork or object of interest. A closer look and discussion for understanding the communication and media ecology embodied in the installation “mit-teilen” deems necessary the requirements, restrictions, and opportunities for participation and audiovisual response to the former concentration camp site visit. I will discuss the social, cultural, and technological implications of implementing an interactive media communication environment that is the first of its kind in a memorial-specific context. Living archive denotes user participation. Their voice provides evidence as contemporaries and citizens on the present reception,

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discussion, and discourse about the Holocaust’s perception in everyday life and at the memorial. As a prerequisite, the notion of contained and moderated information visible and accessible to the public se51 cures non-violation of the prohibition act of 1947. In practice, all communication produced and shared in the memorial is subject to strict control in compliance with the legislation. The possibility of sharing comments with the outside world and contextualizing them with other visitors’ observations and impressions after visiting via social media is limited. Given that a living archive evolves with each new entry, the assumed internal use restrictions only similarly suggest an advantage in the assessable variables for setting the research agenda, which follows a qualitative descriptive method.

What is a living archive? 52

According to Rhodes, a living archive “is a collection of materials presented in a way that allows for the expression, exhibition, documentation, and preservation of a sentiment or movement in a particular community.” The word living in the archival context denotes the generative and emergent aspects of the everyday and public versus the archive, understood by its meaning of collecting, storing, and distributing trusted information and knowledge. Every day, we use different forms of verbal and non-verbal expressions that constitute us as social beings in exchange with other people, discourses, and events. Thus, we must acknowledge that the combination of “living” and “archive” connects with the questions of representation and symbolic annihilation in archives. “Representation in the fictional world signifies social existence; absence means symbolic annihilation.” (Gerbner & Gross, 1976) Culture libraries represented a hermetic knowledge repository that expanded its collections through selection procedures according to the subject or thematic focus in the book era. The borrowing and lending of books describe an act of exchange of material and immaterial value embodying a relatively high use

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value due to the limited editions available in the library. Considering the scope of interaction with the librarian, the act of reading and returning the book was somewhat limited. From time to time, I found someone else’s annotation and remarks on some of the pages that labeled the books as an object of studying and critical review. Subsequently, book knowledge’s enclosed circulation, dissemination, and reception provoked contention from a single author’s standpoint. From the close reading perspective, though, the single book one has to read to become knowledgeable in a particular domain or subject area resulted in a better understanding of assessable information than the knowing-how-to-find-it-paradigm to retrieve appropriate info in the internet era. Combining the internet with the concept of open access, co-editing, and annotation function with the social constructivist approach would transcend the single into multi-authorship or collective work. Social constructivism builds on the assertion that knowledge creation is a shared experience based on social interaction and emergent processes among individuals. (Vygotsky et al.) My argument is that constructivist theories that arose in the 1960s interact with “the death-of-the-author” insofar as they refer to the meaning-making processes through their own experiences and social discourse. Reading means interpreting and making meaning and sense by the readers of the words on the page, not the author. (cf. Barthes, 1967) In Foucaultian terminology, “the ‘author-function’ is undoubtedly only one of the possible specifications of the subject and, considering past historical transformations, it appears that the form, the complexity, and even the existence of this function are far from immutable.” (1969) Foucault considers the reader’s liberation from the author’s single opinion as a historical progression, eventually resulting in a culture of circulating discourse in which the author disappears. Discourses, whatever their status, form, or value, and regardless of our manner of handling them, would unfold in pervasive anonymity.

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No longer the tiresome repetitions: “Who is the real author?” “Have we proof of his authenticity and originality?” “What has he revealed of his most profound self in his language?” New questions will be heard: “What are the modes of existence of this discourse?” “Where does it come from; how is it circulated; who controls it?” “What placements are determined for possible subjects?” “Who can fulfill these diverse functions of the subject?” (Foucault, 1969) Foucault suggests the discursive dimension to expand the author’s notion as the single owner of the scripture resonates with collec53 tive and collaborative practices in the arts in the 1960s and 70s. Community-driven art practices, as they did not fit the purposes of museum collections, were largely disregarded, as Thomas J. Lax puts it in his preface: “Side by Side: Artistic Collaborative Practices in the United States, the 1960s–1980s is premised on a paradox: How can museums—institutions that have historically privileged their collections as the locus of cultural value—foreground artistic practices that evade museum acquisition? Moreover, more to the point of this digital publication: How can an online platform designed to showcase an institution’s collection be used to center histories of art-making that largely live outside its collection, either because these artists’ works were not invited to be accessioned or because these artists rallied to create semiautonomous alternatives to the museum as they knew it?”

The living archive broadens the definition of inclusion and participation by including the voices of marginalized and underrepresented people and groups whose contributions to cultural archives have

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THE RECORDS CONTINUUM MODEL EVIDENTAL AXIS

IDENTITY AXIS

Create

TRANSACTIONAL AXIS

Capture Organize Pluralize RECORDKEEPING AXIS

20 This RCM model, initially conceived by Frank Upward Monash University in 1996, is a response to evolving discussions about the challenges of managing digital records and archives in the discipline of archival science. The continuous research of the Records Continuum Research Group (RCRG) increasingly engages with critical approaches to archiving and recordkeeping involving theoretical, professional, moral, and ethical critiques of the design, development, implementation, and impacts of research and practice. Specifically, these questions are targeted: How do Records Continuum theory, models, and constructs complement, frame, and support critical archiving and recordkeeping theorizing and practice? How do critical approaches to recordkeeping and archiving research and practice in the continuum contribute to the emerging field of critical archival studies? What are the key characteristics of critical approaches to archiving and recordkeeping in Records Continuum research? 54

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been disregarded or dismissed. In the case of the museum, it is not simply a tiny portion of artistic production on display; most of the collection is kept hidden from the public in storage. In other words, the cultural material output outnumbers the available sites, institutionally or privately. On the web, digital collections make digital artifacts accessible as visual representations. They embody a new level of temporality, accessibility, visibility, perceptibility, usability, and connectedness. The virtual experience suggests simultaneous or sequential activities that follow structural or random-like information or knowledge gathering from various web media contents. You may seamlessly switch between your shared pictures and videos, the museum website, YouTube, or other sources aggregating pieces forming a granular synthesis. However, that does not mean all these traces and accessible sources of information—keeping in mind that our routinely generated search history would turn into an archival structure—automatically contributes to a personal archive. It would suggest a lifelogging approach to turning one’s personality into permanent documentation, a digitized self in constant flux. Only if we consider the limitation of data storage and the time we would consume in indexing every chunk of information for later retrieval would exceed the capacities of not only one lifetime. From a conceptual standpoint, the entire digital production accessible on the web could merge into a universal library. Applying the living archive concept to the project mit-teilen/communicate the cycle of user engagement and participation/cultural institution/access/collaboration differs from other institutions with fewer restrictions on sharing and making publicly available visitors’ voices on the internet. Looking closer at the living elements of the archive developing over time, the participants embody a performing act and individually/ collective memory act that looks at “the possibility of mapping a memory continuum onto the records continuum, in which memories of the individual, the family, the organization, the community, and society function, not in isolation, but a flow of continuous inter55 56 action.” The records continuum model denotes an ecology of four dimensions (create, capture, organize, pluralize) and corresponding

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axes (evidence, recordkeeping, transactionality, and identity) focusing on the transmission of memorial acts and objects into society. In this vein, it is necessary to revisit Anthony Giddens’ writings on time-space distanciation, which significantly impacted archivists’ reconceptualization. 57 The four interacting layers of distancing in Giddens words are: a) intersections of regions and a spatial spread away from the immediate contexts of interaction; b) routinization, which provides a temporal spread away from immediate contexts of interaction; c) time-space distanciation, and d) forms of the societal totality. The following looks into these definitions to analyze their meaning and transferability to the media-cultural context of individual and collective remembering, bringing participants and memory-mediating messages into a shared space such as the installation mit-teilen/ communicate. It juxtapositions Upward’s four dimensions, highlighted in italic, to deduce possible concurrencies or deviations with the context-specific requirements and objectives. Create equates with a point where individuals, as creative sources, engage in particular activities. Recorded information spreads away from their acts. Creation is an intersecting dimension. The point here is whether a particular action of the visitors will be recorded regardless of its media insofar as the message separates from the messenger. In the case of the room and media installation, the recording takes place via the iPad in multimodal forms. It is centered around individuals’ voices and acts of participation.

Capture equates with a point at which communications are brought into a framework that enables consistent and coherent use of information by groups of people. This involves adding

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information about the recorded information and its communication, metadata, which disembeds information from the immediate contexts of its creation. Capture is a dimension of routinization. Capturing information means the gathered information splits into cataloged texts, images, and audio files collected under violating/nonviolating the Prohibition act. At the current stage, discussions emerge under which criteria metadata will be organized and described to provide search criterion-based retrievable information. As the data is still circulated between the internal server and the projection wall, the selection of displayed information is made manually without the intention of classifying the representations on the screen. Organize equates with the need to marshal information across a range of participants who do not share the same frameworks of the group interaction. Commonly navigable structures and understandings have to be set up within systems so that the information can be shared in different spacetimes. This is a process that could be described as the organization of memory. It is the prime locus of time-space distanciation. The organization of the information is adjusted to the specific environment’s needs. It splits into collecting and moderating information gained from the input media. As the media ecology of the established network pursues local accessibility and distribution, it requires a stable spatial-temporal setting from which to manage, analyze, structure, and present a selection of multimodal content on screen. Pluralize equates with taking information out to points beyond organizational contexts into forms of societal totalities, still

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more distant from the organizations, community totalities, and whole-of-person views of the individual, within which the creation and capture processes took place. This is a nebulous region in the broader reaches of spacetime involving memory as it is formed across societal totalities. It consists of the use of information in ways that are less predictable or controllable. Many people can access individual messages on a screen encompassing various interpretations by multiple audiences to share, discuss, and participate in relevant discourses through different media. The media installation works as a record-keeping object fed by individuals contributing to collective remembering in a transformative act of sharing their emotions and feelings with others, thus becoming part of the living archive. To attribute a living archive validity and credibility in the sense of accountability about agency, authorship, provenience, data protection, and copyright, the proposed axes in the RCM model, underpin this claim: ”transactionality (relates to records as products of activities), identity (relates to the authorities by which records are made and kept, including their authorship), evidentiality (links to the records as evidence) and record-keeping objects we create to store records.” To conciliate the “living” as transitory and in constant flux with the archive, preserving and making accessible memory culture to as many people as possible is a demanding co-evolving process between actors and institutions. In other words, the ephemeral and temporary events fuel the spaces where current cultural discourse takes place and produce multiple forms of memory objects that eventually become memorable cultural objects in a collection of permanently valued records. Alternatively, in the case of the project, it becomes a powerful, complex means for memory transmission and community identity building.

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8 PROJECT STAGES AND REALIZATION

Preface The project’s initial start was the request from the pedagogical team of the memorial center in Mauthausen to develop something more interactive and engaging for younger people to confront themselves with this specific part of the history of their home country. The team of mediators working on constantly improving communicative and creative methods makes up the heart of the voluntary and enthusiastic-driven enterprise. Their role is to prepare guidance and active task-orientated tours around the preserved areas of the former concentration camp. Not only do they guide young people through the dark side of the countries’ history, but even more so, by bridging the past with the present deep and more profound understanding may unfold about the aftermaths, consequences, and effects of authoritarian regimes. We owe it to the many passionate volunteers who keep up the memory and give a voice to the forgotten, anonymous victims, transforming the memorial into a hub for co-memorization, awareness-raising, and educational work.  History, as I understand it, is the reality of facts and figures from diverse sources of information that entail social and cultural connotations and require interpretation at a particular moment. Historical knowledge is in constant flux as novel research methods and technologies unravel unknown findings and put them into contexts and meaning-making processes. With the untold stories, fates, and tragedies of the individuals tortured to death in the concentration camps, their place in history is at the margin and often either ignored, repudiated, or erased from the records. From today’s perspective, the challenge is how to rewrite, -interpret and -contextualize the disappearing from the view of the past into the consciousness of the present. By the example of 58 the project “Room of Names,” an online and on-site digital and

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22 The room displays the names of 840000 concentration camp prisoners killed between 8 August 1938 and 30 June 1945 in the Mauthausen and Gusen concentration camps and the subcamps. Paying tribute to individual commemoration, the “virtual room of names” raumdernamen.mauthausen-memorial.org provides biographical details about the victims.

physical memorial honoring the over 90000 people who died in Mauthausen, history becomes tangible where the unknown abstract numbers transform into a biography. The names you may search for in the virtual room of words on the web will convey to us, the bereaved and the successors, remembering innocent individuals who lost their lives in one of the darkest chapters in human history. “Never again!” “How could that happen?” and “What does that have to do with me?” are the mediator’s initial

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23 The memorial opposite, designed by Rudolf Burger, consists of materials that were symptomatic of the Nazi era: Steel, concrete, granite. The arrangement of the six columns symbolizes the feeling of imprisonment of inevitability. The granite block designed as a sacrificial stone stands for the murderous madness to which thousands of people were sacrificed. April 2002

questions engaging with the audience. Regardless of the visitor’s age, their role will eventually transform into an active participant in dialog with the surrounding, which marks a fundamental change in the overall concept of cultural commemoration. (cf. Lapid, Angerer, Ecker, 2011) Turning the visit into a personal involvement from which interrogation, irritation, and confrontation with one’s chosen areas of interest are one cornerstone of the communicative and participatory educational approach. Embedded in this concept is the social-constructivist process, acknowledging that each individual perceives and creates “the world.” There is no single overarching story on this compound topic. It is a multitude of narratives, each informing the visitor’s cultural and informational upbringing and disposition to challenge the unknown. Similar to non-linear storytelling with no pre-defined script, the assemblage of self-discovery, factual input, and interaction with a group or the facilitator engenders a personalized experience. To understand the rationale and background of the interactive media

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installation, “mit-teilen” requires a profound demonstration of the framework encompassing theory, conceptual work, and realization. During initial discussions with the mediation team from the memorial center, the story’s start was ready to spark off, putting me in the role of the project leader—ahead of a vast array of interdisciplinary areas of investigation. The plan was to integrate the project into one of my Master’s student classes and do a research project. This idea soon shaped into something bigger, as some students committed themselves to the extent that went far beyond seminar work. The project team emerged from a community of students, some trained through prior studies or professional expertise in audiovisual media, stage design, design education, and photography.  Stage one in the project genealogy sought to find common grounds in the historical traces of discussion, representation, and concepts of mediation in cultures of remembrance, focusing on the death camps in Austria. Each project member dwelled upon their own family’s stories, many of which never came to light. The third-generation oral history of the few witnesses of the terror regime has become the sole voice of evidence and a reminder of living history. We were concluding the first phase meant to step over one’s emotional attachment into the factual through literature review, site visits, archival research, and examination of existing projects at memorial sites. With the goal in mind to develop more interactive and communicative experiences for the visitors in response to their site visit, we focused on potential intervention in the vast spaces the memorial center embodies.  In stage two, intense planning and discussion with the memorial team led to the first comparative review and evaluation of media installations in Holocaust memorial centers. Two controversial projects, “Yolocaust” by Shahak Shapira and “Projected Memory,” went under closer inspection as a point of reference and discussion. Although different approaches, both projects pointed to burgeoning antisemitic tendencies across Europe, reacting and engaging in explanatory and educational work. When analyzing site-specific institutions for education, learning, investigation, and development of commemoration, the nazi-documentation center in Munich

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stands out. Our focus turned on the comprehensive interplay between permanent exhibitions of Munich’s National socialist past and 59 temporal collections such as “Tell me about yesterday tomorrow” and the variant usage of digital media. Another excellent example of interactive and user-experienced involvement with commemorative culture is the “Audioweg Gusen.” (Audio-walk) The visitor walks across the former concentration camp with a headset in this artistic project. Along the pathway, a mix of historical facts and voice-overs from survivors and witnesses converges physical and virtual sensations into a vivid confrontation with the inconceivable atrocities of the past. The process of inquiry and ideation brought us to the heart of the project’s objectives: to work on a user-centered environment that engages different age groups to leave their immediate impressions after the site visit in a multimodal way, combining text, audio, and visual representations.  The last project and implementation stage became the most demanding, prototyping and accomplishment. Also, the component-specific complexity of curving parts and piecing together the installation required skillful crafts and material-specialized knowledge before constructing the constituent items, intense modeling, and CAD-supported variations of functional studies mold into a 3D model conveyed the dimension and functionality as an informal field of communication and interaction. The final decision on where our interactive project was to stand went through a thorough usability study of the central spot in the visitor center. Close check-ups with an array of intertwined security, compliance, and statuary regulations for politically sensitive organizations are indispensable to position a permanent intervention of that size. Let alone the stakeholders and committees who kept a wary eye on the slightest changes in the status quo was a touch-and-go enterprise whether we could complete the installation at the envisaged spot. We carried out immense work in teamwork and a cyclical intense working period throughout the academic years and summer breaks. Each project stage exposed various technical difficulties that no one could expect in the planning and prototyping stages. In retrospect, this project paved the way for us to go beyond limits, whether related to the enormous learning curve and acquisition of new knowledge

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and skills or the awareness that team spirit and a joint workforce can move mountains. Three years after the launch of the interactive media installation, the acceptance to interact by leaving personal messages on the installed tablets has permeated all age groups. The multifunctional usage has played out its full potential as a communicative, interactive, and contemplative space. The findings suggested in the needs analysis, the urge to convert the central area of the memorial center into a place where people can meet, share their impressions, and retreat has, in its acceptance, been far beyond our expectations.  The memorial center welcomes around 200000 visitors annually, twenty-five percent of young students from Austrian schools. Many initiatives, although restrained during the Covid-19 pandemic and its restrictions, pursuing on the relentless efforts of the memorial’s team to keep up alive commemoration and educational work.  In 2019, after the nomination of our project for the “Lars Day 60 Foundation’s prize,” we felt like an honor and a mission to continue our work. With our interactive media installation, we wanted to contribute to these joint endeavors by reverencing the victims and creating awareness and a sensible attitude connecting the past with the present.

Needs analysis/research questions From the start of the project, the focus went on a thorough assessment of the existing technical, educational, information, and communications infrastructure. During needs analysis, it turned out that some of our original ideas to establish a seamless network of communication and interaction between the memorial and the outside world did not work out. We underestimated the complexity of laws and regulations entangled within all memorial-related activities that will come to force when violated. In practical terms, each planning step that involved information retrieval, storage, and dissemination from interactive visitors’ platforms underwent immediate scrutiny under the criteria of non-infringement with the existing memorial legislation, the prohibition act of 1947, and the non-violation of the

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General Data Protection Regulation. I soon realized the tremendous importance and responsibility of the team at the memorial to provide legal protection for all contingencies. With that in mind, the communication, content, and interaction design of the in- and output medium developed incrementally into a viable solution of text, audio, and graphical input into a database from which selected audiovisual representations are on a screen for public viewing. The environment where the installation is situated requires a complex review of the general spatial security regulations and suitability within the usage concept of the main space in the memorial’s visitor center. For the prototyping, three categories emerged to distinguish the added value and stages of the production and final implementation.

PARTICIPATION – What are the existing modes of interaction (analog-digital) between visitors and educators at the memorial? – What are organizational, spatial, and technical arrangements necessary to provide tools for expressing personal impressions and emotions in a multimodal format (text, audio, video)? – What didactics does the educational team employ in utilizing the Memorial App? – How can visitors share their impressions visually and audibly? – Is there guidance for using different interfaces and responding to visitors? (socially, intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually motivated) – Are individual and group-specific processes in preparation and follow-up of the visit documented and made accessible?

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– What opportunities are there for the international visitors’ and victims’ associations to make their activities visible? STORAGE, DISTRIBUTION OF INFORMATION – Which information do we want to record and save with communication media? – Which data formats on which servers and in which databases? – Which interfaces are used to access these data? – How can visitors decide whether and how their data is (non-) public? (Option 1: only for research; Option 2: only accessible from within the memorial; Option 3: Accessible on the web) – Indexing and taxonomy of information; Search criteria and search functions. Database configuration and maintenance. COMMUNICATION–INTERCONNECTIVITY–VISUALIZATION– REFLECTION – How can the various application scenarios (app + input media in the Memorial + web) interact? – How can different target groups benefit from networked information and representability? – Which methodological and didactic planning (time and additional effort) are necessary to generate added value on the level of reflection and knowledge? – Which displays, interfaces, and interactive media are deployable on-site and on mobile?

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– What is visible on the screen? – Does filtering sensitive data and information include manual or automatic procedures? – What are the selection criteria for audiovisual and textual content?

The multifunctional dimension of the installation The core concept of the installation emphasizes a combination of interactive, communicative, and participatory elements that are grounded in a thorough needs analysis, as the majority of visitors are younger and are coming in organized groups with their teachers and memorial educators to reflect and discuss their experiences and impressions after the monument visit. The requirements to accommodate the need of diverse target groups to establish an environment for discussion, retreat, communication, and interaction transforms the idea of a single moded input medium allowing visitors to leave a message into a multipurpose communication platform. It comprises the following modes of communication: – Linear communication: a) An input medium tablet that includes text messaging, audio recording, and a drawing tool for visual expression, b) a screen that displays a collection of selected messages from the audience. – Non-linear communication: The moveable seating elements that constitute the room installation facilitate different arrangements for one-to-one communication and many-to-many communication. 61

– Interactive communication: The flow of information from the input medium the user can follow and read on the screen establishes meaning-making processes and input for further discussions, potentially triggering subsequent social media activities.

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From a media-design standpoint, the installation expands the scope of human-machine interaction by establishing a communication framework of real-world experiences that eventually, but not necessarily flow into digital communication and representation to the public that transcends the notion of personalized private messaging for reaching out to a broader audience perception. In that case, the visitors sitting in front of the screen watching and hearing the archived messages, audio records, and drawings, become viewers, interpreters, and communicators, establishing a micro-communicative ecology among other people sitting next to them or getting involved via different media. The conceptual model of communicative ecology intertwines equally the social, discur62 sive, and technological layers applied as the core components of the installation. In approaching the room and media installation from the perspective of usability and user acceptance, we speak not only about diverse audiences but also different degrees of media literacy, perceptiveness, receptivity, and open-mindedness. Some of the conclusions drawn from observations and interviews with students, apprentices, and educators suggest a variety of user scenarios corresponding with either specific pedagogical purposes or self-explorative or authentic learning experiences. On a discursive level, confrontation with permanent memorial exhibits, analysis of historical facts, and contemporary discussion of the Holocaust in research and popular media requires preparation work for educators at school, and most teachers are prepared before the memorial visit. 63 Borrowing Gee’s concept of primary and secondary discourse, education can impact leveling up the degree of candid discussion with peers, which in families are either repressed or neglected depending on their involvement with the Nazi past—bringing up suppressed stories of traumatized survivors or co-perpetrators co-creates a space for understanding the historical contiguities contrasting objective and subjective narration. As such, the installation works as a discursive platform that is open-ended to dialogue and debate involving experts and the general public. What creates a unique space for retreat and participation through interaction with the tablets are

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the two curved booths, slightly separated from the rest of the elements, rounding off the installation from the right and left. One of the reasons for mounting the tablets inside the cylindriclooking booths originated from allowing visitors to do it discretely and anonymously without disturbances and having enough time to ponder over the messages they want to transmit. Are tablet interfaces and media settings self-explanatory, or do they require instruction? These are discussion points to date, yet there is some evidence from user acceptance and response that there are no constraints when it comes to accessibility and universal design principles. Entering the installation space, the micro-media ecology between the audience experiencing the audiovisual messages generated by visitors using the tablet and at the next level of reflection and comprehension about processing and filtering information on display. Once there is no synchronous transfer between input and output media, moderated filtering, whether manual or software-driven, conclusively directs to malicious content inappropriate for this specific environment. The in- and out-put-medium network, a local server, and a database establish a secure and robust digital environment to prevent infringement. To explain possible usage scenarios, I distinguish between passive and active users. Attributing these potential activities will help outline distinguishable and coinciding individual and group-related forms of communication and interaction with the environment and its actors. The semi-public space within the institution is per se defined by its constitutional, political, historical, and educational parameters, establishing a robust framework for participation and discourse. Space and temporal activities are inseparably tied together with a shared meaning-making process to which different target audiences contribute individually and collectively.

USAGE SCENARIOS

Using the cylindrical sitting booths as a retreat

Using the tablet as a multimodal means of communication and expression

Providing feedback about user experience

Sharing of emotions and feelings in multimodal form

Watching the messages on the screen

Making presentations for in-house training and public events

Arranging sitting elements for group work and individual discussions Adapting the installation as a presentation and discussion forum

Reflecting on the cultural, historical and political dimension of the memorial

Igniting discussion among visitors and the educational team

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Spatial dimensions — spotting the location From the project’s inception, spotting the proper location within the given architecture became one of the prime challenges in the conceptual phase. There were sparse options at hand as the visitor center’s main hall (fig. 24) utilization concept covers flexible arrangements for space-filling events, eventually conflicting with the permanent installation. We spotted the niche where mainly furniture was stored for events in the main hall as the only space where the space-in-space concept of the installation could fully evolve. The location would allow the permanent placing of the installation where visitors could walk around, use the sitting elements, watch the messages on the screen, and retreat or leave messages in the cylindrical sitting booths. From the user orientation and spatial navigation vantage point, the paths are straight and fast for approaching the specific location when entering the main hall. Despite or because of these limitations, only one remaining area would fit the work became focused and directed towards adopting existing spatial and infrastructural parameters. Specifically, the lower ceiling height and poor light conditions, at first seen as obstacles, turned out ideal for a separate space for retreat and the specific communication ecology.

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24, 25 The niche view depicts the space on the left spanning the distance from the corner to the glass wall establishing an ideal space for the installation.

Prototyping First drafts and sketches were produced, both analog and digital, based on the envisaged usage scenarios and feasibility studies. The central communication and interaction functions became the prime constituents for smooth alignment with corresponding forms and shapes fitting the surroundings and usability aesthetically and technically. The model worked to define and measure the spatial dimensions within the installation and against the environment, usage scenarios, proportions of the different elements, light conditions, adaptability, usability, materiality, and stability. Although the model suggested a viable and true-to-scale prototype, the actual magnitude of the real size of each of the elements composing the whole installation became the real challenge in the production process.

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26, 27 The model and CAD delineate the interrelated wooden elements of the installations.

Specifically, the proper selection of the material that turned out to be only a wooden construction and surface could work out for the realization of the project. Using birch laminated veneer lumber for the curved surfaces mounted on a solid frame construction proofed best aesthetically and technically. Contrasting the refined and puristic design of the concrete building, the installation design pursues a counterpoint through organic shapes and wooden material, emphasizing the natural texture of the birch structure. A core part is the two cylindrical booths for a serene retreat of interaction with the tablet. The color design employs light organic material and olive-colored upholstery on the sitting elements.

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The interplay between computer-aided design (CAD), the space, and the model In the making, mutual adaption between the blueprint and the model is deemed necessary to avoid subsequent errors in the production process. Some of the working steps posed material and technical challenges none of the team members had experienced. They also required specific knowledge from external experts who guided us through critical stages in which high-skilled craftsmanship was instrumental. The modular concept of the installation, splitting into ten individual elements, each entailing similar material and working process, facilitated the division of labor and avoidance of eventually trapping into parallel error sources. As the plot suggests, the curved elements composing the installation establish a space-in-space situation dissolving the rigid hard-edged cubic structure of the main hall. The height of the curved wall varies, stretching a distance of approx 12 meters embedding the projection frame that sits on a rectangular prism slightly overhanging from the laminated veneer lumber surface. The hemispheric and crescent-like shape opens towards the projection surface and protects the user against the public space. The building of the elements became one of the most challenging parts as the cylindric-looking bodies are made of relatively small wooden constructions with thin-layered curved birch laminated veneer lumber.

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28 The flexible arrangements of the sittings elements and cylindrical booths establish a co-creation process by different target groups for specific usage scenarios.

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Sitting elements The shapes of the sitting elements were plotted true to scale on paper and transferred to the laminated veneer lumber panels for sawing out. Applying CNC was deemed inappropriate as sizes exceeded the max capacities of available computer-controlled cutting machines. The construction and strutting holding the lumber panels are made of ply- and full wood, and by gluing, these parts were bent into the exact shaped forms. Through the seamless and flexible adjustments of the ten-parted elements, new configurations may emerge whenever needed for different purposes, such as presentations, discussions, or watching the screen. The ten sitting elements containing seven curved benches and three connecting elements are flexibly adjustable within approximately 320 square feet. Together they form a flexible, organic floor plan inspired by plants contrasting the rectangular architecture. The elements stand out as aesthetic and utility objects, thereby defining a discernible space design to the existing spatial concept. In case of a repair, separate panels holding the upholstery with carriage bolts are accessible from below to disconnect the panel from the rest of the sitting element.

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29 These are possible configurations emerging from the curved and connecting elements. The modular design approach suggests a collaborative process, providing a system the participants can adjust to suit their needs. It is the same principle as wooden building blocks; it may become increasingly complex and customizable, changing to fit the situation.

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30 The tablet interface for text, audio, and drawing input.

The input, storage, and presentation media From the start of the project, the prerequisites were precise about establishing a safe, unobtrusive, robust media infrastructure at the visiting memorial center that could be easily handled and moderated by one person. They are safely mounted in the booths where visitors can use them to convey their messages. The tablet’s interface with text, drawing, and audio input is programmed with HTML 5 and Java APIS, enabling secure and restricted use. Visitors may decide whether they want their messages published or stored in the database. One of the main challenges was configuring the tablets for limited use so that visitors could only access the app. The specific browser prevents the device from switching on and off and hacking the system. From the data entries available in CSV format, the next step is a manual selection of predominantly text messages, as these reflect the primary response mode. The server collecting, storing, and

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31 The functional diagram outlines the installations’ media network and infrastructure, containing the tablet, the server, the monitor, the projector, and the projection screen.

presenting data is connected to a projector mounted behind the semi-transparent projection screen, displaying an average of a hundred different visitor messages in a loop. Defining a space within a space for either retreat or interaction with the tablet became one of the cornerstones during needs analysis and feasibility studies. As it has turned out from user acceptance, this specific element serves both needs and has been vividly appropriated. The layout-, concept-, application-, and content design utilize usercentered design principles involving direct user participation, such as specifying the context of use, the nature of the users, their goals and tasks, and the environment in which the product will be used. It looks into organizational requirements regarding effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction; the allocation of function between users and the system to produce designs and prototypes of plausible solutions and carries out a user-based assessment. (cf. The Encyclopedia of Human-Computer Interaction, Design For All)

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Credits Installation ”mit-teilen” Gudrun Blohberger: memorial institutional support, education unit. Christoph Flattinger: production, planning stage. Manfred Grillnberger: production, construction, manufacturing technologies. Lena Kalt: design of installation elements, CAD, model making, upholstery, production. Michael Kramer: production, planning stage, foil letter printing design glass wall. Bernhard Mühleder: memorial institutional support, education unit. Stefan Sonvilla-Weiss: project management, production, needs analysis, concept design, research, publication, fund-raising. Bertram Verdezoto Galeas: production, planning stage, spatial design concepts, video. Reinhard Zach: production, planning stage, app programming, interface design, database maintenance, media-technical infrastructure, photo documentation.

32, 33, 34, 35, 36 The following images (pp. 121-129 and 142-143) delineate the work-in-progress of the production stages at the Art and Design University Linz, Austria.

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Messages The sample used for the qualitative analysis includes 80 entries. As mentioned earlier in the chapter, “Communication in a culturally sensitive environment,” a more complex analysis of gained results, is planned for a later stage—mainly because of the long break during the Covid-19 period when the memorial was closed or had limited opening hours. On clarifying the location and number of input media, it was deemed necessary to point to the two separately located tablets; each mounted in one of the two cylindrical sitting booths. They are part of the installation “mit-teilen,” CSV-entries are thus distinctively attributed to tablets one and two. Even though the tablet functions permit audio recording and visual expressions via the drawing tool, the vast majority of communication means are text messages combined with emoticons. Hence, textual information is the core source for further scrutiny and inspection. As a prerequisite for reaching out to an international community, the text entries are predominately in German and are therefore translated into English. Although some expressions in German denote, a peculiar verbal expression attached to a dialect expressing a particular emotion or feeling—finding equivalences in English does not deteriorate the original intent. Approaching the sample from the point of dividing the contents into meaningful versus meaningless, quite obviously, the former prevails. In translating them into numbers, the proportion is 67.5: 32.5 in favor of meaningful messages. Meaningful in this context denotes semantically discernible words that, in combination or as a fragment, impart seriousness, usefulness, or importance in some way compared to the meaningless lacking significance or having no assigned function in a language system. For example, the entry “It is sad how everyday people can become monsters under the guise of absurd hierarchies” conveys meaning, whereas “Long live Brexit” apparently is meaningless in commemoration and memory culture, as is the case at the memorial center in Mauthausen.

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Next to the differentiation between these two criteria, I would like to introduce two more, which will provide a better understanding of the motivation, emotional entanglement versus rational explanations. One can conclude from either very brief, emotionally connoted phrases like “It is so sad” or “Unfortunate what happened here”—not because of simplification—the age group and provenance of authorship. Some of these messages include names, the type of school, and the grade that underpins the assumptions, as mentioned earlier. Filtering the messages, it turns out that most messages fall under these criteria, which makes sense insofar as the primary target groups are school students. Exemplary for a rational argumentative message is the following, “It is unbelievable how many people today, in the age of enlightenment, can approve of National Socialism. I believe we Austrians are doing everything in our power to make amends for these deeds, even if this will never be possible. However, the behavior of those people is inexcusable, and we all have to pay for it. I am sorry!” That is the sample’s most reflective and elaborated message on the Austrian collective guilt during Nazi time. It demonstrates the degree of ethical and moral responsibility the ancestors and future generations have never to happen again. One can also deduce the level of education and disposition to confront oneself with the past and take up moral and ethical responsibilities here and now. Another example is, “I find it so bad that these events are not taken seriously by some. We are the youth; we are the future; now, it is up to us to honor and never forget those who have suffered or died; it is up to us to make sure this never happens again.” This message aptly indicates the shared responsibilities of the younger generations to honor the victims and never forget them. What has often been discussed in contemporary Holocaust education and memory culture in the perpetrator countries is how long and why should younger generations still feel guilty about their forefathers’ deeds. However, this message makes it unambiguously clear: It is less about guilt rather than keeping up awareness and consciousness about these darkest moments in human history with a clear mission to do everything possible as an individual and society to prevent any crime against humanity.

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Emotion analysis

Angry

Fear

Happy

Sad

Love Neutral

Something like this should never happen again 0.07% 0.15% 0.34% 53.67% 3.37% 42.41% An excellent retreat to process such a tragic place

2.97% 12.46% 26.29% 54.70% 2.27% 1.31%

It's sad what happened here, but you must know the past to improve the future.

0.28% 0.86% 0.72% 96.93% 0.63% 0.31%

What gives man the right to judge someone, to determine who or what is good and right, and 2.34% 97.47% 0.07% 0.05% 0.04% 0.03% then to destroy? I remember the victims who died, especially in Mauthausen, because of a madman From stone to tombstone, from sorrow to grief, 23.64% 7.47% 12.02% 56.07% 0.56% 0.23% from slander to memorial Thank you Hanna for this great tour! It was very 0.10% 0.07% 71.49% 1.18% 27.08% 0.07% interesting and we learned a lot of new things. It is unbelievable how many people today, in the age of enlightenment, can approve of National Socialism. I believe we Austrians are doing 76.02% 4.82% 0.39% 18.43% 0.15% 0.07% everything in our power to make amends for these deeds, even if this will never be possible. But the behavior of those people is inexcusable, and we all have to pay for it. I am sorry! To all those who say never again, have you 5.25% 73.99% 3.96% 12.39% 1.30% 3.11% ever heard of North Korea or China in your life. Why did the evil NAZIS have to kill such innocent, nice people... Far too cruel!

57.55% 5.90% 0.30% 35.72% 0.24% 0.28%

It's sad how everyday people can become monsters under the guise of absurd hierarchies. 0.76% 0.23% 0.27% 98.33% 0.25% 0.16% Our heartfelt condolences

0.12%

0.21% 14.70% 8.36% 74.39% 2.21%

Depression corner

3.96%

0.36% 9.56% 74.21% 1.30% 10.60%

It's been very distressing and I hope it never happens again. I couldn't see the whole museum. Stupid teachers

67.14% 0.65% 0.37% 31.57% 0.22% 0.06%

I come from a school and it was very interesting, 5.68% 0.83% 91.73% 1.28% 0.42% 0.05% even if some of my group asked stupid questions Einstein said there will be World War 4 but with sticks and stones

1.70% 13.45% 76.03% 8.13% 0.55% 0.14%

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Concerning the so-called meaningless messages, there is either complete nonsense, using random emoticons and letter combinations, or expressions that convey discomfort, helplessness, aggression, anger, and so forth. It is, however, speculative to discern the exact motivations behind these kinds of expressions. Using, for example, “Hello, hello, hello” or “Add noel1081215 on Snapchat, please I need follower” firstly gives information about the age group, secondly originated out of ineptitude, or possible diversion from one own’s sentiments and emotions, giving utterance to stupid text messaging. It brings me to the current discussion and research in identifying 64 expressions of emotions in text , an area of research based on sentiment analysis that typically focuses on recognizing valence—positive or negative orientation. Although skeptical against reductionist AIbased analysis, especially in semantically and context-dependent written expressions, I decided to look into the criteria of the six basic 65 emotion categories proposed by Ekman: happiness, sadness, anger, disgust, surprise, and fear. Along with researching available tools for identifying emotion categories in texts, I came across bytesview.com offering sentiment and emotion analysis. The emotion API accepts three parameters data, lang, and x-access-tokens. It returns a JSON response containing the overall emotion of the input text and confidence score for each 66 emotion label (Anger, Fear, Happy, Love, Neutral, Sad). The table sample on the left demonstrates the AI-based textual analytics based on the six criteria. I used 15 meaningful sentences from the 80 messages sample and applied the emotion analysis tool. As the tool has limited capacities to decode the semantics, the structural analysis of the six categories attributed to each sentence or sentence fragment, for example, “Depression corner,” provides a corresponding percentage distribution among the emotion labels. Most of the allocation of percentages to these entails a certain logic when identifying adjectives signifying or suggesting specific ideas in addition to the primary meaning. For example, “I come from a school, and it was very interesting, even if some of my group asked stupid questions” is attributed to a 91.73% happy rate mainly because of “very interesting” even if … Another example, “An excellent retreat to process such a tragic place”

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contains both a negative and positive connotation, which is reflected in 26.29% “Happy” and 54.70% “Sad” percentage distribution. If we look at the overall distribution among the 15 messages analyzed as for the respective highest percentage rate per category, then we see a clear tendency towards “Sad” (six times the highest percentage rates; 53,67%, 54,70%, 96,93%, 56,07%, 98,33%, 74,21%). Followed by “Angry” (three times the highest percentage rates; 76,02%, 57,55%, 67,14%) and “Happy” (3 times the highest percentage rates; 71,49%, 91,73%, 76,03%), “Fear” (two times the highest percentage rates; 97,47%, 73,99%), “Love” (one time the highest percentage rate; 74,39%) and „Neutral“ (0 times the highest percentage rate). Unsurprisingly, labels such as “Love” and “Neutral” gained the fewest percentage distributions among all messages. The question is if other synonyms, such as affection, appreciation, devotion, fondness, amity, or attachment, would work better for algorithmic analysis. Taking up the example of “Our heartfelt condolences,” to which “Love” is granted the highest percentage rate makes sense insofar as its meaning correlates with the words used and stands in stark contrast with the other messages. Astonishingly, the algorithm is somewhat accurate when analyzing relatively complex sentences, “It is unbelievable how many people today, in the age of enlightenment, …” Here, the analysis suggests a distribution of 76.02% to “Angry,” 4,82% to “Fear” and 18.43% to “Sad.” In brief conclusion, this tool may work well to filter out a specific tendency based on quantitive analysis of emotion labels in text messages. It falls short in contextual and semantic analysis capacities. Yet, it can be helpful to retrieve and detect a general mood barometer over a certain period. For the educational team, it might be helpful to focus on specific age groups and demands regarding the preparation and target-specific methodological approaches for better understanding and articulation. As the project emphasizes on-site interaction, presuming it would amplify a more profound identification and contestation with the topic, comparative analysis, and juxtaposition with messaging in online media might open up new findings for continuing research.

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9 CONCLUSIONS AND INTERVIEW

What no one dared to think when the project started has now become an integral part of the memorial’s educational and memorial cultural practices and objectives. Because of its multifaceted functions, the installation “mit-teilen” contributes to the pedagogical leitmotif and its participatory approach to target-specific engagement and involvement in awareness creation and Holocaust education and genocide. It has turned into a space of dialogue, discussion, and discourse—and pursues the notion of a living archive giving voice to all people who wish to share their thoughts, emotions, and feelings at a particular moment—“voices” that are heard and recorded for future generations. The current in-house communication ecology works well to ensure a safe and discreet environment devoid of potential violations and misuse. That does not mean keeping away from the public discourse— quite the opposite, the memorial’s objectives and activities extend into society at various levels. What has been vividly discussed on several occasions during the project stages is to what extent descendants of survivors and victim organizations from across the globe can be more actively involved in raising their voices. One such idea encompassed an online version site independent of which a broader discourse and reflections were intended to broaden the scope of participation and awareness creation. As discussed in the chapter “Mediated Memories,” the risks of making things public on the internet would exceed the capacities to control and monitor any fraudulence—and could, in the worst case, generate the opposite of what has been intended. The moderated version of displaying selected messages on the public installation screen has been proven a viable means and method to initiate discussion and provide input for in-depth topic-specific debates. This educational transfer is specifically helpful for the primary targets of teenagers. Beyond the “screen,” metaphorically speaking, the data collected will establish an invaluable source of information for the many specially-trained educators at the memorial. So far,

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we may draw some conclusions about target-specific expectations, approaches, degree of concerns, means, and abilities to communicate first impressions after the memorial visit. Some of the entries, as I learned only recently, violated the prohibition act of 1947 and, consequently, were reported to the police anonymously. It is, however, difficult to discern the exact intention behind these minor acts, as the provenance remains unknown. At this point, we decided not to filter malicious content by keywords, as this information will remain unpublished. With the requirements and expectations of institutional memorial space in mind, the “reaching out to the public dimension” still reverberated as we pondered over a follow-up towards the final stage. A future project might be developing a moveable road-trip compatible container to places in the region where the history of the past and its committed atrocities still have not come to light. Many third and fourth generations after WWW II are willing to investigate further and bring justice to the victims and bereaved forgotten in anonymity. Imagine a transportable “oral history container” standing on a market square somewhere in the Austrian province where people could not learn about topographic history from a different vantage point but also get their voices out. With this idea in the back of my head, I would like to bring to the fore our main contact point at the memorial center, the head of the education unit, Gudrun Blohberger, who is in charge of developing the educational program further. In this interview, she explains her responsibilities and the impact of the installation “mit-teilen” on her work and the institution.

What are your professional background, role, and tasks at the Mauthausen Memorial Center?

I have been in charge of the education department at the Mauthausen Memorial since 2015 and am responsible for the content and organization of the educational work. In addition, I have been part of the management since 2017, which consists of governance, economic management, and academic management. Since 2017, the

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visitor service has also been part of the Education Department. All employees who are in direct contact with visitors have been working together in one department ever since. In the 1990s, I studied pedagogy combined with psychology and psychosocial practice at the University of Klagenfurt. One of my majors was “Education and Culture.” It was here that I encountered topics such as “culture of remembrance” and “pedagogy of memorial sites” for the first time. Initially, it was probably more of a personal family background that fueled my interest in dealing with NS history: How is NS history passed on in families? How does this tradition influence the socialization of subsequent generations? How do memories of a social majority dominate those of a minority? After completing my studies, I worked in adult education and museum education. I was involved in commemorative initiatives part-time and voluntarily. Forty kilometers from Klagenfurt, on the border with Slovenia, there is a memorial commemorating the resistance struggle of the Carinthian Slovenes and a crime in the last days of World War II in which a peasant family was killed by an SS and police regiment was murdered. As chairman of the association located at Peršmanhof, I have been involved with the bilingual region in southern Carinthia for more than 20 years. There I conducted many projects in education and exhibitions, as well as an extensive book project, and cultivated the exchange with artists from various fields. Ultimately, this work was the starting point and motivation for me to decide in 2015 to move to the Mauthausen Memorial and further develop the educational work at the memorial with a large team. What is the primary purpose of the Visitor Center?

The visitor center of the Mauthausen Memorial was built in 2003 and since then has been the central building where visitors receive initial information for their visit to the memorial. It also houses film and seminar rooms, offices, a library, and a large auditorium in the center of the building. After the opening, the visitor center auditorium was used as an exhibition space, but that is no longer the

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case. Away from the historical area, rooms are needed at the memorial that is not directly related to the history of the crime because they are historical objects. Rooms offer space for discussions, deepen�ing or retreat, and relaxation because dealing with the Nazi past is emotionally demanding and stressful for many visitors. The visitor center fulfills these functions; it is the starting and ending point for a visit to the Mauthausen Memorial. How many visitors do you register per year?

In 2019, almost 290,000 visitors visited the concentration camp memorial. It was the year with the highest number of visitors we have ever recorded. Due to the corona pandemic, this number fell drastically in the two years that followed. We assume that we will only reach similarly high visitor numbers as in 2019 in a few years, provided that the high number of international tourists remains the same. Do you have numbers or statistics on age groups or nationalities?

Yes, we record and publish statistical information on visitors or groups of visitors. The last three annual reports with statistical evaluations 65 are available on our website. In addition to automatically counting visitors, we collect data on the visiting groups supervised by educational programs, such as school levels, school types, domestic or foreign groups, students, and groups in vocational training, such as the police. The nationality is not recorded for either groups or individual visitors. I read about the long-term memorial concept of Mauthausen. What do you consider eminently important milestones for future developments in your area of ​​specialization?

The long-term memorial concept formulates parameters of how we understand the work on the memorial and how we would like to

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develop it further in the coming years. For the pedagogical work, I see the following topics as crucial: The memorial is, on the one hand, a historical site and, on the other, a place of political learning. We initiate discussions and thought processes by accompanying visitors to examine the area and its history. By bridging the past with the present, visitors raise ethical-moral questions driven by inquiry, e.g., “who are excluded from social life today and why?” Differences are also worked out, e.g., “how was forced labor in the concentration camps, and how does it differ ideologically from poor working conditions today?” This debate can help shape a historical-political consciousness and many other influencing factors. The pedagogical work is committed to a constant development process. Formats, methods, goals, etc., must be permanently assessed, further developed, and questioned, considering the most diverse target groups. Not only allowing interaction and discussion with visitors but specifically promoting them and creating serious opportunities for participation are essential milestones for the further development of the educational work at the memorial. It is another crucial milestone to consider participation more broadly and not just in academic work but as a principle of memorial work in the sense of social responsibility and participation overall. What was the initial idea to get in touch with the university?

Especially in educational work, we must regularly design and implement projects with different target groups. Projects are usually accompanied by long-term cooperation, which allows the project partners to deal with the history of the concentration camp, the memorial site, and the memorial site work over a more extended period. On the other hand, contact with external colleagues or other institutions is always profitable for the employees of the memorial: Other professional approaches open up new possibilities and bring

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new impulses to their work. The Art and Design University in Linz is an important regional player, characterized by innovative projects, students, and professors. Various departments at the Mauthausen Memorial maintain contact with the university, mainly in the academic field. Initially, our team started with a vague idea that should ultimately become a joint project with your media design department. What were your expectations and added value you envisaged from the cooperation with us?

We expected an exchange and cooperation from the cooperation with your department, from which both cooperating institutions would benefit. In pedagogical practice, we usually accompany visiting groups for two to four hours. In this respect, our work can be described as “short-term pedagogy.” Working with you and your students over several semesters is an exceptional, hitherto unknown setting that differs from previous short-term projects on many levels. We also expected students to provide creative impulses to turn a vague idea into a concrete project. In the sense of a seriously intended participation, we, too, emphasized that students’ input and expertise helped shape the work at the memorial. How would you explain our interactive media and room installation “mit-teilen” to your colleagues, stakeholders, and visitors?

The media and room installation “mit-teilen” is located in the visitor center. This building is the starting and ending point for visiting groups and individuals taking a memorial tour. It has established itself as a meeting place for reflection and discussion. The installation enables the personal recording of thoughts before or after visiting the memorial site—the bandwidth of motifs, expectations, or feelings represented on a screen in verbal or written form encourages people to reflect more broadly. Coevally, we learn more about our visitors, how the place affects them and what moves them immediately before and after a visit to the memorial. The design of the room installation

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enables several people to sit together, facilitating communication and retreat supported by the specific interior design. Could you elaborate on visitors’ feedback on the installation concerning a) usability, b) usefulness c) acceptance?

First, I would like to highlight the design elements and the functionality of the room installation. The materiality distinguishes it from the sober concrete walls in the visitor center’s auditorium. It acts as a point of attraction; its design invites you to explore it and sit individually or in groups. It arouses curiosity: What can be found in the cylindrical design elements? What is the purpose of the tablets mounted in these sitting elements? The room installation is particularly popular with groups of schoolchildren in the auditorium before or after the visit. Individual, mobile seating elements of the installation are dynamically shaped; they are often adjusted individually and serve groups, e.g., as a circle of seats. In this respect, we observe that user-friendliness, usefulness, and acceptance are fulfilled to a very high degree. Part of the media installation is a large screen on which the messages already left by visitors are projected. New text appears every few seconds. It does not matter whether visitors are sitting by the room installation or walking through the auditorium; they see the texts and inevitably read them. Even the memorial staff, who walk through the hall several times a day, regularly stop in front of the screen when they come across a message that they have not seen yet, that appeals to them in particular, that makes them think, which amazes them. The functioning of the tablets, the interface, and how visitors are instructed to use the iPads are easy to understand. Young visitors, in particular, have no fear of contact here on the one hand and no problems using the technology on the other. In the case of older visitors, I assume less spirit of discovery and more shyness, although this assessment is based more on observation than we can prove.

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Which of the areas do you attribute added value the most: a) education; b) communication; c) contemplation; d) reflection; e) chatting; f) personal expression; g) emotional condition; h) collective memory; i) cultural artifacts.

I attribute the most significant importance to three items: communication, contemplation, and reflection. These are followed by personal expression, and chatting certainly has a reputation that should not be underestimated, especially since the media installation is mainly connected to the reality and practice of young people’s lives. I would see emotional constitution in connection with personal expression: Those who use the installation to share personal impressions of the visit to the memorial site partly also write about their emotions and thereby possibly experience some relief. Looking at the totality of the messages left behind, we gain information about our visitors and an impression of “collective memory.” An example: Often formulas like “never again!”, “RIP” and “remember the past as a reminder for the present and the future” are detectable. These could be interpreted as evidence of “political correctness,” indicating that the attitude expressed by these formulas is socially desirable at a memorial site. One might ask whether twenty or thirty years ago, it might have been more frequently stated, “remember, yes, but there has to be an end to it”? I would assign less importance to education and cultural artifacts, depending on how narrowly or broadly these terms are interpreted in the context of the project. What works and what does not work? (Considering the relatively short period of usage because of Covid-19)

In the months when the installation was accessible to visitors and could be used, we gained many positive experiences and impressions. A recurring internal point of discussion was and is the process of moderation. Our colleagues first read messages entered by visitors

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before they are made publicly visible. Notes including combinations of letters that do not make sense or offensive phrases (e.g., “Michael is gay”) will be discarded. This “security mechanism” helps prevent the Mauthausen Memorial from injuring memorial visitors or relatives of concentration camp victims or even violating the prohibition law. Malicious contents remain stored yet not projected. So far, these messages are in the absolute minority and are not on display; however, we as a team are entangled in ongoing discussions: What legitimizes us to judge what appears to be offensive or hurtful? Wouldn’t it be thought-provoking to include and display statements that testify to thoughtlessness, disrespect, or ignorance? Could you elaborate on potential areas of improvement in a) UX (user experience); b) Human-Computer Interaction; c) tablet screen design; d) input media; e) on-screen display; f) data storage; g) archiving; h) accessibility; I) guidance.

I want to address two points here: data storage and archiving. Shortly after the installation’s launch, the Covid-19 pandemic caused the partial closure of the memorial, which affected the testing of the room and media installation about user experience, technically supported interaction, and qualitative and quantitative data analysis. It would, however, require continuing research to make valid statements on various subject areas apart from observations. The messages from the visitors can provide impulses for the memorial site work as a whole, for the educational work in particular, and information on research questions of all kinds. It would also be worth reviving the idea introduced in the conception phase, according to which messages and user interaction are accessible on websites and social media. In this respect, the multimedia installation “mit-teilen” opens up opportunities for further development at various levels.

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By taking up some of the observations and analysis from the education unit’s head at the memorial, the main objectives of the installation are incrementally getting targeted by increased user acceptance corresponding with envisaged usage scenarios: retreat, multimodal communication, information gathering, re-arrangement of installation elements according to individual and group-specific needs. We learn from observations and feedback that predominantly younger age groups—owed to the fact of organized school groups spending more time at the installation—as compared to individuals who take advantage of the multitude of features the installation offer. Regarding data storage and archiving, concerns have been raised about the data valence and validation work that needs to be done on classification, taxonomies, and vocabulary on the input medium. To date, users are neither requested to provide information on sex, nationality, or age range—as for the basic queries—nor do they have to provide any other personal information. Throughout the concept design and usability testing phase, prevalent criteria were simplicity and low-threshold access aligned with the “design for all” objectives. The actual usage numbers confirm the minimalistic interaction design, which builds on universal symbol language and the most straightforward human-machine interaction. To speculate that on top of this application layer, a survey-like structure would likely deteriorate spontaneity, accuracy, and willingness to contribute straight away thoughts, emotions, and feelings derived from the visit. I propose to look into a simple “sex-age group-nationality” universal symbol-based interface that seamlessly connects with the existing one. This tiny intervention would substantiate and contextualize the contents of the messages as provenance, life experience, and gender would add a crucial parameter for audience research and subsequent tailored participation activities. I am hesitant about expanding the messaging approach into the realm of social media twofold: First, the on-site experiences create a stronger bond with what has happened and to understand the reverberating effects history holds if neglected and kept under the veil of secrecy and ignorance. Second, the response after the memorial visit stays focused on the individual’s experiences and is context-

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dependent on the intensity and disposition of confronting oneself with past atrocities inscribed in the former concentration camp. As demonstrated by Shapira’s Yolocaust example, the unreflected and disrespectful behavior at the Berlin memorial, paired with malicious text/image messages, is prone to perverting commemoration into a media spectacle. Neither do they entail consequences nor contribute outcome of contestation with what the memorial was meant for, creating a space for memory culture and never forgetting. My plea thus is to invest more resources in participatory work of audience engagement and documentation across different locationbased media at memorials. It makes a difference using social media channels to promote many activities, ranging from temporary exhibitions to advanced training courses or opening it up for unfettered free speech, nourishing and exposing burgeoning antisemitic, racist, and xenophobic tendencies in Western media. (Hübscher et al., 2022) How does our project contribute to memory culture? This question has echoed in my mind for quite some time. It does so at the temporal space-time level by offering a flexible space for communication, commemoration, and mediation and a historical dimension by collecting and storing messages. These messages tell us and future generations how diverse people at a particular moment have expressed their specific emotions, feelings, impressions, and thoughts about something absent and present at the same time. Something that is permeating through society as a potential threat of destroying what is commonly dubbed as civilizing progress. Not only in today’s world, at any time, nothing cannot be taken for granted; it is our shared responsibility to stand up, name it and act against any injustice and violence against humanity. The living archive that evolves with each entry carries the notion of archiving, documenting, and sharing knowledge from the perspective of societal diversity and equal access. It shifts the focus to plural ways of commemoration to be communicated and remembered as collective memories. They will contribute to creating awareness and supporting educational work by being critical of radical and discriminatory tendencies and offering and developing spaces for discourse and discussions where active citizenship can emerge.

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REFERENCES

1. https://www.holocaustremembrance.com/resources/working-definitionscharters/international-memorial-museums-charter 2. Final report by the Historical Commission, https://hiko.univie.ac.at/pdf/01.pdf 3. https://ausstellung.de.doew.at/b40.html 4. A. Gruber, The Quality of Mercy, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Quality_of_Mercy_(film) 5. Elfriede Jelinek, The Piano Teacher; Klavierspielerin, https://en.wikipedia. org/wiki/The_Piano_Teacher_(Jelinek_novel) 6. http://www.zwangsarbeit-archiv.de 7. https://www.bmi.gv.at/magazinfiles/2003/07_08/files/besucherzentrum mauthausen.pdf 8. https://msrp.univie.ac.at/ 9. Quote from George Santayana’s The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress (1905) 10. https://www.communicationstudies.com/communication-theories/proxemics 11. https://www.mauthausen-memorial.org/assets/uploads/Entw_A4-Gedenkstaettenkonzept-EN.pdf 12. Neuroconstruction explains how human infants are born without the ability to recognize a face but can develop that capacity within the first few days after birth. It also explains how early cultural experiences — for instance, how often your caregivers were in physical contact with you, and whether you slept alone in a crib or a family bed — differentially shape the wiring of the brain 13. Illustration taken from Brosch et al. (2013), The impact of emotion on perception, attention, memory, and decision-making, https://smw.ch/article/ doi/smw.2013.13786 14. For example, The Finnish Science Center Heureka, founded in 1989, https:// www.heureka.fi/about-heureka/?lang=en 15. https://www.cite-sciences.fr 16. https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/information-overloadwhy-it-matters-and-how-to-combat-it 17. http://tranzit.org/curatorialdictionary/index.php/dictionary/educational-turn/ 18. https://icom.museum/en/news/icom-announces-the-alternative-museumdefinition-that-will-be-subject-to-a-vote/ 19. www.projectedmemory.org 20. Hirsch, Marianne (1999) `Projected Memory: Holocaust Photographs in Personal and Public Fantasy,’ in Mieke Bal , Jonathan Crewe and Leo Spitzer (eds) Acts of Memory: Cultural Recall in the Present. Hanover, NH: University Press of New England. 21. Silverman, K. (1996, 185), The Threshold of the Visible World. Routledge.

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22. https://cup.columbia.edu/author-interviews/hirsch-generation-postmemor 23. http://humanityjournal.org/blog/projected-memory-reflections-on-oneyears-work-at-a-memorial-museum-in-germany-and-an-initiative-thataims-to-remind-us-how-we-remembered/ 24. Using Social Media in Holocaust Education, International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, April 2014, https://www.holocaustremembrance.com/ sites/default/files/social_media_in_holocaust_education.pdf. 25. Reading, A. (2003, p.75) Digital interactivity in public memory institutions: the uses of new technologies in Holocaust museums. In: Media, Culture & Society. Volume 25 issue:1. 26. https://www.wired.com/story/the-light-in-the-darkness-voices-of-the-forgotten-holocaust-history-game/ 27. Kansteiner, W. (2017, 310) Transnational Holocaust Memory, Digital Culture and the End of Reception Studies in Andersen, T. et al. The Twentieth Century in European Memory. Leiden: Brill. 28. Brown, A., Waterhouse, D. (2014, 6) The Future of the Past: Digital Media in Holocaust Museums, Holocaust Studies, 20:3. 29. This is the complete sentence from Adorno’s essay Cultural Criticism and Society from 1949: “Cultural criticism finds itself faced with the final stage of the dialectic of culture and barbarism. To write poetry after Auschwitz is barbaric. And this corrodes even the knowledge of why it has become impossible to write poetry today.“ English translation by Samuel and Shierry Weber. 30. https://yolocaust.de 31. Comments are taken from yolocaust.de 32. Peter Eisenman, the US architect who designed the memorial, has advocated a more tolerant approach to its uses, saying in 2005 that he did not want visitors to approach his creation with a specific feeling. “People are going to picnic in the field. Children will play tag in the field”, Eisenman told Der Spiegel. “There will be fashion models modeling there, and films will be shot there. I can easily imagine some spy shoot them ups ending in the field. What can I say? It’s not a sacred place.” https://www.theguardian.com/ world/2017/jan/19/yolocaust-artist-shahak-shapira-provokes-debate-overcommemorating-germanys-past 33. https://www.holocaustcenterseattle.org/survivor-voices/21-survivor-resources/ survivor-videos 34. https://www.holocaustcenterseattle.org/images/survivor-voices/KS-Transcript201.pdf 35. https://fortunoff.library.yale.edu/ 36. https://vha.usc.edu/about/about 37. https://sfi.usc.edu/dit 38. https://www.zeugendershoah.de/ 39. http://www.preserving-survivors-memories.org/ Preserving Survivors´ Memories Digital Testimony Collections about Nazi Persecution History,

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SPACES OF COMMEMORATION AND COMMUNICATION Education, and Media. An International Conference of the Foundation EVZ and the Freie Universtät Berlin in cooperation with the USC Shoah Founda�tion held in Nov 2012 at Haus der Kulturen, Berlin. Metadata: Best Practices for Oral History Access and Preservation. http:// ohda.matrix.msu.edu/2012/06/metadata/ Keilbach, J. (2016, 111) Microphone, Videotape, Database: Reflections on a Media History of the Historical Witness in Preserving Survivor’s Memories. Young, J. E. (1998, 163). Writing and Rewriting the Holocaust. Narratives and the Consequences of Interpretation. Bloomington/Indianapolis: Indiana University Press. Holocaust Survivor Helen Colin Full Testimony, https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=gqLjAP5cUOY One aim of AJR Refugee Voices was to record the experiences of “ordinary people”, who form the bulk of the refugee community in Britain, and not only concentrate on the prominent and high-achieving refugees. Most of the interviewees have never been interviewed before and very few on film. https://www.ajrrefugeevoices.org.uk/ Young, J. (1988), 161. Ibid., 163. Rosenfeld, The End of the Holocaust, 243. https://sfi.usc.edu/dit/faq Ibid. J. Trant & with the participants in the steve.museum project (2006) Exploring the potential for social tagging and folksonomy in art museums: Proof of concept, New Review of Hypermedia and Multimedia, 12:1, 83-105. https://www.ris.bka.gv.at/Dokumente/Erv/ERV_1945_13/ERV_1945_13. pdf National Socialism Prohibition Act 1947 prohibits Holocaust denial and belittlement of Nazi atrocities. Rhodes, T. (2014). A living, breathing revolution: How libraries can use ‘living archives’ to support, engage, and document social movements. IFLA Journal, 40, 5-11. Side by Side: Collaborative Artistic Practices in the United States, the 1960s–1980s Volume III, https://walkerart.org/collections/publications/ side-by-side/contents Evans, Joanne, Sue McKemmish, and Greg Rolan. “Critical Approaches to Archiving and Recordkeeping in the Continuum,” in “Critical Archival Studies,” eds. Michelle Caswell, Ricardo Punzalan, and T-Kay Sangwand. Special issue, Journal of Critical Library and Information Studies 1, no.2 (2017). Ketelaar, E. (2005). Sharing: Collected memories in communities of records. Archives and Manuscripts, 45. Upward, F. (1997). Structuring the records continuum, part two: Structuration theory and recordkeeping. Archives and Manuscripts, 25(1), 11–35.) Giddens, A., (1986). The constitution of society, Polity Press in association with Blackwells, 298.

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58. https://raumdernamen.mauthausen-memorial.org 59. https://yesterdaytomorrow.nsdoku.de/en/about-the-project “The purpose of art is to lay bare the questions that have been hidden by the answers.” (James Baldwin) The exhibition titled Tell me about yesterday tomorrow opens up a dialogue between contemporary art and the remembrance work performed by the Munich Documentation Centre for the History of National Socialism. Works by over 40 international artists explore how to interpret the past and its links to the present day against the background of the historical exhibition. 60. The Lars Day Foundation’s prize honors educational projects and initiatives that remember Nazi crimes and other crimes against humanity that encourage young people to take responsibility for democracy and live together in diversity. https://www.jmberlin.de/en/award-presentation-lars-day-price 61. Interactive communication is an exchange of ideas where both participants, whether human, machine or art form, are active and can have an effect on one another. It is a dynamic, two-way flow of information. 62. Foth, M., & Hearn, G. (2007). Networked individualism of urban residents: Discovering the communicative ecology in inner-city apartment buildings. Information, Communication & Society, 10(5), 749-772. 63. Gee, J. P. (1999). An introduction to Discourse analysis: theory and method. London and New York: Routledge. 64. Aman, Saima & Szpakowicz, Stan. (2007). Identifying Expressions of Emotion in Text. 196-205. 65. Ekman, P. (1992). An Argument for Basic Emotions. Cognition and Emotion. 6, 169–200. 66. https://www.bytesview.com/docs

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Angerer, C. (2014). Opfer, Täter, Umfeld. Zum pädagogischen Konzept der KZ-Gedenkstätte Mauthausen. Jahrbuch der KZ-Gedenkstätte Mauthausen 8. Apostolopoulos, N., Barricelli M., Koch G. (2016). Preserving Survivors’ Memories. Digital Testimony Collections about Nazi Persecution: History, Education and Media. Berlin, Stiftung „Erinnerung, Verantwortung und Zukunft” (EVZ). Arnold-de Simine, S. (2013). Mediating Memory in the Museum: Trauma, Empathy, Nostalgia. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Asche, F., Döring, D. (2020). The Radical Democratic Museum - A Conversation about the Potentials of a New Museum Definition. Museological Review. Assmann, J., & Czaplicka, J. (1995). Collective Memory and Cultural Identity. New German Critique. 65, 125–133. Barrett, L. (2017). How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of The Brain. Mariner Books. Bauwens, M., Kostakis, V., & Pazaitis, A. (2019). Peer to Peer: The Commons Manifesto. London: Westminster University Press. Benkler, Y. (2006). The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. Birdsall, C., Drozdzewski, D. (2018). Capturing Commemoration: Using Mobile Recordings within Memory Research. Mobile Media & Communication, 6(2), 266-284. Boltanski, L. (1999.) Distant Suffering: Morality, Media and Politics. Cambridge University Press Bouchard, D. (1980). Language, Counter-memory, Practice: Selected Essays and Interviews by Michel Foucault. Cornell University Press.

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1. Zach, R. (2022). Mauthausen Memorial. Photograph. pp. 10-11. 2. Zach, R. (2022). Mauthausen Memorial visitor center. Photograph. pp. 18-19. 3. Zach, R. (2022). Installation view “mit-teilen”. Photograph. p. 20. 4. Zach, R. (2022). Installation view “mit-teilen”. Photograph. pp. 26-27. 5. Zach, R. (2022). Mauthausen Memorial. Photograph. p. 33. 6. Kalt, L. (2019). Visitor’s messages on a pin wall at the Mauthausen memorial visitor center. p. 38. 7. Interactive signing steel at the 9/11 memorial and museum. https://twitter.com/sept11memorial/status/998216855604154368 p. 43. 8. Zach, R. (2022). Installation view “mit-teilen”. Photograph. p. 44. 9. Zach, R. (2022). Installation view “mit-teilen”. Photograph. p. 44 10. Sonvilla-Weiss, S. (2022). Schematic illustration of the three stages of memory processing. Diagram. p. 46. 11. Zach, R. (2022). Installation view “mit-teilen”. Photograph. pp. 48-49. 12. Detail from a survey of Liam Gillick’s work from the early 1990s in “From 199A to 199B.” Photo: Chris Kendall. 13. Zach, R. (2022). Installation view “mit-teilen”. Photograph. pp. 60-61. 14. https://birdinflight.com/en/inspiration/project/20170120-shahakshapira-yolocaust.html p. 69. 15. Zach, R. (2022). Installation view “mit-teilen”. Photograph. pp. 72-73. 16. Screenshot from the interview with the Holocaust survivor Helen Colin, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqLjAP5cUOY p. 77.

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17. https://sfi.usc.edu/gallery/eva-schloss-new-dimensions-testimony-filming-dec-18-2015#6 USC Shoah Foundation, p. 83. 18. Screenshot from “Interacting with New Dimensions in Testimony.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXr5NMNQBu4 19. Zach, R. (2022). Installation view “mit-teilen”. Photograph. pp. 84-85. 20. RCM model by Frank Upward. Illustration by Stefan SonvillaWeiss. p. 91. 21. Zach, R. (2022). Installation view “mit-teilen”. Photograph. pp. 96-97. 22. Mauthausen Memorial Room of Names, https://de.wikipedia. org/wiki/Datei:KZ_Mauthausen_-_Gedenktafeln_im_“Raum_ der_Namen”.jpg 23. Sonvilla-Weiss, S. (2019). Picture taken on the “Audioweg Gusen.” p. 100. 24. Sonvilla-Weiss, S. (2022). Illustration “Usage Scenarios.” p. 109. 25. Kalt, L. (2109). Photograph of the niche where the installation is located. p. 111. 26. Kalt, L. (2019). Plot of of the niche where the installation is located. p. 111. 27. Kalt, L. (2019). The installation model. p. 112. 28. Kalt, L. (2019). CAD of the installation elements. p. 113. 29. Kalt, L. (2019). CAD visualization of the sitting arrangements and cylindrical booths. p. 115. 30. Kalt, L. (2019). Sitting elements and possible configurations. Illustration by Stefan Sonvilla-Weiss. p. 117. 31. Zach, R. (2022). The tablet interface. p. 118. 32. Sonvilla-Weiss, S. (2022). Diagram of the installations’ media network and infrastructure. p. 119. 33. Kalt, L. (2018). Installation production stages. p. 121.

List Of Illustrations

169

34. Kalt, L. (2018). Installation production stages. pp. 122-123. 35. Kalt, L. (2018). Installation production stages. pp. 124-125. 36. Kalt, L. (2018). Installation production stages. pp. 126-127. 37. Kalt, L. (2018). Installation production stages. pp. 128-129. 38. Sonvilla-Weiss, S. (2022). Emotional analysis diagram. p. 132. 39. Kalt, L. (2018). Installation production stages. pp. 142-143. 40. Zach, R. (2022). Installation view “mit-teilen”. Photograph. pp. 156-157.

Cultural Management and Museum Sharon Macdonald (ed.)

Doing Diversity in Museums and Heritage A Berlin Ethnography 2022, 324 p., pb., col. ill. 35,00 € (DE), 978-3-8376-6409-6 E-Book: available as free open access publication PDF: ISBN 978-3-8394-6409-0

Susanne Leeb, Nina Samuel (eds.)

Museums, Transculturality, and the Nation-State Case Studies from a Global Context 2022, 248 p., pb., col. ill. 38,00 € (DE), 978-3-8376-5514-8 E-Book: PDF: 37,99 € (DE), ISBN 978-3-8394-5514-2

Viviane Mörmann

The Corporate Art Index Twenty-One Ways to Work With Art 2020, 224 p., pb. 35,00 € (DE), 978-3-8376-5650-3 E-Book: PDF: 34,99 € (DE), ISBN 978-3-8394-5650-7

All print, e-book and open access versions of the titles in our list are available in our online shop www.transcript-verlag.de/en!

Cultural Management and Museum Susanne Boersma

The Aftermaths of Participation Outcomes and Consequences of Participatory Work with Forced Migrants in Museums 2022, 272 p., pb., ill. 30,00 € (DE), 978-3-8376-6411-9 E-Book: available as free open access publication PDF: ISBN 978-3-8394-6411-3

Constance DeVereaux, Steffen Höhne, Martin Tröndle, Anke Schad-Spindler, Tal Feder (eds.)

Journal of Cultural Management and Cultural Policy/Zeitschrift für Kulturmanagement und Kulturpolitik Vol. 7, Issue 2: Transformation and Upheavals: The Effects of Crises and Conflicts on the Arts 2021, 236 p., pb., ill. 44,99 € (DE), 978-3-8376-5390-8 E-Book: PDF: 44,99 € (DE), ISBN 978-3-8394-5390-2

Constance DeVereaux, Steffen Höhne, Martin Tröndle, Marjo Mäenpää (eds.)

Journal of Cultural Management and Cultural Policy/Zeitschrift für Kulturmanagement und Kulturpolitik Vol. 7, Issue 1: Digital Arts and Culture – Transformation or Transgression? 2021, 210 p., pb., ill. 44,99 € (DE), 978-3-8376-5389-2 E-Book: PDF: 44,99 € (DE), ISBN 978-3-8394-5389-6

All print, e-book and open access versions of the titles in our list are available in our online shop www.transcript-verlag.de/en!