Presentation
Travelling exhibition “The Experience of Auschwitz in the Art of Former Prisoners” and presentation of educational material
Speakers:
-Agnieszka Sieradzka, Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum
-Katarzyna Odrzywołek, ICEAH, Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum
Agnieszka Sieradzka, the exhibition’s curator and art historian responsible for the art collections in the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, presented the purposes of the travelling exhibition entitled “The Experience of Auschwitz in the Art of Former Prisoners” and the thinking process behind its creation.
The art collections are composed of works made illegally during the camp operation but also include post-war creations. For this particular exhibition, the choice was made to concentrate on post-war works for three main reasons: they were created after the war in times of freedom, so the artistic expression was therefore not restricted; they are more suitable for educational purposes; and they show the entire cruelty of the camp reality as opposed to camp drawings and sketches which are greatly unfinished because of the risk that prisoners were taking and the fear for their life.
These works are powerful, “they reflect emotions and feelings, quite extreme, which are quite difficult to be reproduced,” said Agnieszka Sieradzka. Artists wanted to tell the story of what they saw, felt and experienced during the camp’s operation. Their thoughts are reflected in drawings and paintings when words could not be found to express their feelings. It was a way for them to cope with the post-camp trauma and was not especially meant to document the occurrences in the camp.
When it came to the selection of artworks for the exhibition, hard choices were to be made. “What to show and what not to show? Which events, which moments should be shown and referred to? And which ones should be given up? Perhaps we should show more illustrative works or those who refer to emotions? Which of them are most representative? Which of them tell people more?” are a few of the questions that Agnieszka and her team had to answer. The exhibition has been designed to be clear; the legibility of the message is very important. For every topic, simple striking titles such as “Hunger” and “Punishment and Executions” were chosen and a few works of art were selected to illustrate the subject. To emphasize and ensure the clarity of the message, the topics covered are displayed in chronological order, from the arrival at the camp to the moment of death (starvation/extermination/death marches etc.). These drawings and paintings are accounts and memoirs of former prisoners: they speak for themselves. That is why the creators decided to omit historical commentary. This project is not meant to answer all the questions and show all the issues related to Auschwitz, but was thought as an impulse, an invitation for the visitor to dig deeper and learn more after having seen the exhibition. Even though no historical commentary accompanies the works, some quotes from other prisoners’ accounts and memoirs were chosen to strengthen the message and connect images to words.
The exhibition’s objective is to teach about the history of the camp from the perspective of the prisoners and about what they experienced, but also to talk about feelings. Showing the camp through the perspective of art represents a wonderful educational material by its universality. Art speaks to everybody and thus can be used in all languages. It is a good starting point to raise awareness and create additional educational material from there.