Having Their Say

Concepts for contemporary witnesses in exhibitions

31.05. - 01.06.2021

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Date

31.05. - 01.06.2021

Location

Museumsakademie Joanneum

Meeting point

vorarlberg museum, Bregenz (AT), hybrid

Costs

€ 190, reduced fee € 140 (The reduced fee is available to students, trainees, unemployed people, and employees of this year’s cooperation partners.)

External registration

Please register via e-mail.

Contact

+43-664/8017-9537

museumsakademie@museum-joanneum.at

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About the
Event

More and more exhibitions are giving people the chance to speak. As contemporary witnesses, they help make individual historical experiences visible, establish overarching historical contexts, and are often the key pillars of the exhibition’s narrative. Frequently, these are voices that would otherwise go unheard: former refugees, members of minorities, activists, and direct witnesses of often marginalised histories. Directly integrating their perspectives has the potential to distribute the power of definition and introduce a multitude of historical voices into the exhibition space. From this perspective, we would like to reflect on fundamental methodological, technical, and ethical questions that arise in working with contemporary witnesses. How can we give people a space to be heard? What social processes does this set in motion, and how is the way in which the interviews are conducted related to scenographic decisions? What alternatives are there to ‘talking heads’ that reveal the construction and context of historical narrative and make it possible to reflect on concepts of authenticity, representation, and the diversity of historical voices? And how do we deal with the key ethical problem of ‘exhibiting’ personal histories? The workshop will attempt to map current methods and examine the potential of new media, artistic, and sometimes (semi-)fictional approaches.

With
Tal Adler artist and researcher, Centre for Anthropological Research on Museums and Heritage (CARMAH), Humboldt University of Berlin (DE)
Edith Hessenberger cultural scientist, director of Ötztal Museums (AT)
Irina Koerdt Exhibition architect, Vienna (AT)
Albert Lichtblau Professor of Contemporary History, University of Salzburg (AT)
Fatih Özçelik Museum social worker, vorarlberg museum, Bregenz (AT)
Anika Reichwald Curator, Jewish Museum Hohenems (AT)
Andreas Rudigier Head of vorarlberg museum, Bregenz (AT)
Bruno Winkler Exhibition and communication curator, co-founder and partner, Büro Rath & Winkler, Projekte für Museum und Bildung, Innsbruck (AT)

Organisers of the workshop
Niko Wahl historian and curator, Vienna (AT)
Eva Tropper Management Team, Museumsakademie Joanneum, Graz (AT)

Museumsakademie Joanneum is part of the Universalmuseums Joanneum

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Having Their Say

Concepts for contemporary witnesses in exhibitions

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About the
Event