Holocaust Memory in Dialogue

Jenny Kagan’s Experiential Exhibition in Kaunas “Out of Darkness

Bibliographic Data

ID7147576
AuthorsDaiva Price Citvarienė (0000-0001-9060-7663, Vytautas Magnus University, corresponding author)
Year2025
Volume21
Issue1
Pages41-57
Publication date2025-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueArt History & Criticism (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1822-4555 • E-ISSN: 1822-4547
PublisherWalter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.2478/mik-2025-0004
OpenAlexW4416415310
LanguageEN
References cited20

This paper examines “Out of Darkness”, an immersive exhibition by Jenny Kagan, which presents the story of her parents, who survived the Holocaust in Kaunas. Through a carefully curated interplay of historical narratives, personal artefacts, and scenographic installations, Kagan constructs a space where memory is not merely recalled but actively performed and reconstructed. The exhibition reception provoked a wide range of emotional responses from its visitors. In some cases, comparisons were made between the atrocities of the Holocaust and war crimes in Ukraine. The present article aims to explore the factors that prompted exhibition visitors to establish a connection between the memory of the Holocaust and the atrocities of the modern world. The study demonstrated that visitors exhibited a strong emotional response to the exhibition, which was precipitated by the exhibition’s architecture. This emotional architecture integrated performative elements with a personal narrative, thereby evoking a profound emotional response in visitors, while fostering strong empathy and the ability to make ethical comparisons with contemporary experiences. The article puts forward the argument that the performative nature of the exhibition, when combined with its intimate and deeply personal narrative, resulted in the activation of multidirectional memory. The article draws upon a theoretical foundation established by Michael Rothberg, Marianne Hirsch, Astrid Erll, and other scholars in the field. This theoretical framework facilitates a more profound comprehension of how the exhibition juxtaposes Holocaust narratives with contemporary geopolitical violence, particularly the war in Ukraine. This juxtaposition serves to promote an evolving dialogue between historical traumas, thereby contributing to a more nuanced and comprehensive understanding of the interplay between history and contemporary geopolitical realities

Exhibition · Experiential learning · Forgetting · Narrative · Performative utterance · The Holocaust · History of Emotions Research · Literature and Cultural Memory · Memory, Trauma, and Commemoration

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