Agents of Liberation
The book offers case studies on the representation of the Holocaust in contemporary art practices. Through carefully selected art projects, the author helps to understand the specific historical, cultural and political circumstances that influence the way people in Eastern Europe speak—and do not speak—about the Holocaust. It examines film projects made by key artists of the international art scene that are capable of reflecting critically upon forms of Holocaust memory and their historical, political and cultural aspects. Kékesi connects the moral implications of the memory of the Holocaust with a critical analysis of contemporary societies, focusing upon artists who are deeply engaged in doing both of the above within the context of three regions: Eastern Europe (especially Poland), Germany, and Israel. The case studies apply current methods of contemporary art theory and try to unfold their implications in terms of memory politics and social critique.
List of Figures
Introduction
Part I: The Politics of Testimony
Chapter 1 The Reappropriation of Violence: The Speech of the Resistance Fighters
Claude Lanzmann: Shoah (1985) and Sobibór, 14 October 1943, 4pm (2001)
Chapter 2 The Restoration of Difference: The Speech of the Perpetrator
Claude Lanzmann: Shoah (1985)
Part II: The Archive, In Spite of All
Chapter 3 The Melancholy of the Archive
Chapter 4 The Afterlife of Images
Harun Farocki: Respite (2007)
Chapter 5 Mediating the Perpetrator's Speech
Romuald Karmakar: The Himmler Project (2000)
Chapter 6 In the Leading Role: Adolf Eichmann
Eyal Sivan: The Specialist (1999)
Part III: Site and Speech
Chapter 7 The Erasure of the Trace: The Restoration of Meaning
Artur Żmijewski: 80064 (2004)
Chapter 8 Trauma and Simulacra
Omer Fast: Spielberg’s List (2003)
Chapter 9 From the Culture of Grieving to the Politics of Imagination
Yael Bartana: Polish Trilogy (2007–2011)
Chapter 10 Agents of Liberation
Clemens von Wedemeyer: Rushes (2012)
Bibliography
Index