Wit(h)ness: Art, Memory and the Holocaust

“Wit(h)ness: Art, Memory and the Holocaust,” a symposium presented in conjunction with the exhibit pushmepullyou: A Jewish/German Dialogue Disclosed, will be held Sunday, October 5, 1 to 6 p.m. at the Mathers Museum of World Cultures (416 N. Indiana Ave.). The symposium will explore how the creative process can and has played a special role the context of forms of witnessing and intergenerational memory transmission in a post-Holocaust world. Please find below a complete schedule for the symposium. AWe very much hope you can join us.

The symposium’s keynote speaker will be Dr. Lisa Saltzman, Associate Professor of History of Art and Director of the Center for Visual Culture at Bryn Mawr College . Dr. Saltzman will speak on “After Auschwitz, After Adorno, After Abstraction: On Art and the Subject of History.” Additional participants in the symposium include Karen Baldner and Björn Krondorfer , curators of the exhibit pushmepullyou: A Jewish/German Dialogue Disclosed, an interactive installation of sculptures and artists books that explores how two Germans talk to each in a post-Holocaust world if they come from a Jewish and non-Jewish background. The exhibit is currently on display at the Mathers Museum .

IU faculty participating in the symposium include Dr. Susan Gubar, Distinguished Professor of English and Women's Studies; Dr. Edward Linenthal, Professor of History; Alvin Rosenfeld, Director of the Institute of Jewish Culture and the Arts, Professor of Jewish Studies and English; and Dr. David Thelen, Distinguished Professor (Emeritus) of History.

Following the symposium a reception will be held from 6 to 7 p.m. The symposium and reception will be free and open to the public.

For questions or more information, please contact the Mathers Museum at 812-855-6873 or e-mail mathers@indiana.edu





Wit(h)ness: Art, Memory and the Holocaust

Sunday, October 5, 2008, 1-7pm



Symposium Schedule



Forms of witnessing have played an important role in a post-Holocaust world and intergenerational memory transmission has be en of particular interest to the scholarly discourse about post-genocidal societies. Can and has the creative process played a special role in this context? This symposium will look at this question from a variety of perspectives with participants from the departments of English, Religious Studies, History, Jewish Studies, Art History and the Visual Arts. Discussion and exchange across different disciplines will shed new light on the necessity and art of "witnessing."



1 - 1:10 p.m. Welcome and Introduction





1:10 – 2:00 p.m. Keynote Speaker : Prof. Lisa Saltzman (Art History, Bryn Mawr College )

“After Auschwitz , After Adorno, After Abstraction: On Art and the Subject of History”

Q & A



2:00 – 2:15 p.m. Break



2:15 – 3:45 p.m. Karen Baldner and Björn Krondorfer

pushmepullyou: Art Across the Abyss

Q & A



3:45 – 4:15 p.m. Coffee Break



4:15 – 5:45 p.m. Wit(h)ness: Art, Memory and the Holocaust

An Interdisciplinary Panel with Prof. Susan Gubar (English); Prof. Edward Linenthal (History); Prof. David Thelen (History)

Prof. Lisa Saltzman, respondent

Moderator: Alvin Rosenfeld (Jewish Studies and English)



6:00 – 7:00 p.m. Reception for Art Exhibit “pushmepullyou: A Jewish/German Dialogue Disclosed”


“Wit(h)ness: Art, Memory and the Holocaust” is funded by The Robert A. and Sandra S. Borns Jewish Studies Program, the Institute for Jewish Culture and the Arts, and The Dorit and Gerald Paul Program in Jewish Culture and the Arts; the Department of History; the Commission on Multi-Cultural Understanding; and the Mathers Museum of World Cultures.

The Mathers Museum is located at 416 North Indiana Avenue in Bloomington , and is open Tuesdays through Fridays, from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; and Saturdays and Sundays, from 1 to 4:30 p.m. Admission to the Museum is free. Free visitor parking is available by the entrance on Indiana Avenue , and on surrounding streets (during weekends). Metered and IU Permit parking spaces are available at the McCalla School parking lot on the corner of Ninth Street and Indiana Avenue.

An access ramp is located at the corner of Ninth Street and Fess Avenue , at the entrance to the Glenn Black Laboratory of Archaeology adjoining the Mathers Museum . Reserved parking spaces are available on Ninth Street, between Fess Avenue and Indiana Avenue.