15 grudnia 2023
Muzeum Historii Żydów Polskich POLIN
Art, activism, memory
Multidisciplinary approaches to difficult heritage
Muzeum Historii Żydów Polskich POLIN
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Event program
There are sites, objects and stories that can be called difficult heritage. It is a very particular type of public concern with the past - it can be meaningful, but at the same time contested or awkward for public reconciliation. When tackled in public debate, it tends to open up social divisions and resist any attempts to be comfortably acknowledged as part of a given group’s history and identity. However, there are examples of artistic, activist and multidisciplinary practice tackling difficult heritage that proves to be successful in working through these challenges.
The event is a meeting of experts and practitioners - heritage professionals, memory activists, artists, educators and civic society organizations - to reflect on the potential of various approaches to difficult heritage. In particular, we are interested in the potential of the use of art and multidisciplinary toolbox to tackle difficult and/or contested issues.
The event consists of four sessions. The first two are focused on sites and objects that can be called difficult heritage. The third will be a debate around a single object and questions it poses. The fourth will be a panel discussion on the uses of art as a method of working with difficult heritage and contemporary challenges.
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09.30
Welcome and opening
- Ewa Chomicka
- Aleksandra Janus
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10.00
Session 1: Sites
- Agnieszka Jabłońska
- Karolina Jakoweńko
- Magda Rubenfeld
Monument room, POLIN Museum
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11.30
Coffee break
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12.00
Session 2: Objects
- Renata Piątkowska
Monument room, POLIN Museum
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13.30
Lunch break
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14.30
A meeting with one object
- Aleksandra Janus
- Luiza Nader
- Natalia Romik
Monument room, POLIN Museum
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16.00
Coffee break
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16.30
Panel discussion
- Omer Krieger
- Tomer Zirkilevich
- Michael Rubenfeld
Monument room, POLIN Museum
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Welcome and opening
- Ewa Chomicka
- Aleksandra Janus
15th of December 2023
09.30
Session 1: Sites
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Agnieszka Jabłońska
Co-founder and executive director of the Urban Memory Foundation (UMF) in Wrocław, Poland. UMF is an NGO dealing with the heritage of the pre-war Jewish community of Breslau, today Wrocław. Aga is a manager, fundraiser, cultural activist and researcher in Jewish Studies. For two years (2019-2021) she worked for an Israeli-Palestinian educational programme and previously she had a ten-year professional career in Brussels, where she specialized in event management and communication strategies involving European Union programs and institutions. Agnieszka holds two M.A. degrees, in Political Science from the University of Wrocław and in Jewish Civilizations from the Hochschule für Jüdische Studien Heidelberg. She is the co-author of the publication “Breslau / Wrocław 1933–1949. Studien zur Topographie der Shoah". In 2017-2018 she completed the One-Year-Program at the European Institute for Jewish Studies in Sweden - Paideia. In 2019, Aga was awarded a Nahum Goldmann Fellowship; since 2017 she is a member of the international Jewish network - ROI Community, a Schusterman Family Philanthropies initiative.
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Karolina Jakoweńko
Founder and president of the Brama Cukermana Foundation. She majored in Cultural Studies at the University of Lublin. She is a certified tour guide for the Silesian Region. Karolina completed her post-graduate studies in the Jewish Studies Department at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków. She is a certified educator of the Yad Vashem Institute in Jerusalem. Since 2016 Karolina has been the director of the Upper Silesian Jews House of Remembrance (Museum in Gliwice).
- Magda Rubenfeld
15th of December 2023
10.00
Monument room, POLIN Museum
Monument room, POLIN Museum The first session will focus on sites that can be considered examples of "difficult heritage". During short presentations, the speakers will present specific sites and places, and discuss the challenges they face when undertaking work aimed at revitalizing, commemorating them or making them available to a wider audience.
Coffee break
15th of December 2023
11.30
Session 2: Objects
- Renata Piątkowska
15th of December 2023
12.00
Monument room, POLIN Museum
Monument room, POLIN Museum
Lunch break
15th of December 2023
13.30
A meeting with one object
- Aleksandra Janus
- Luiza Nader
- Natalia Romik
15th of December 2023
14.30
Monument room, POLIN Museum
Monument room, POLIN Museum During Session 3, we will focus on one object: a wardrobe found in 2022 in Huta Zaborowska, which was most likely the wartime hideout of a Jewish child. In the first part, Dr. Aleksandra Janus, prof. Luiza Nader and Dr. Natalia Romik will present the results of their research shedding light on the history of the object and the drawings and inscriptions discovered inside. In the second part, a group of invited guests will present their commentaries, and then the audience will be invited to join in the conversation.
Coffee break
15th of December 2023
16.00
Panel discussion
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Omer Krieger
Omer Krieger creates performative actions, political situations and civil choreographies in public spaces. In 2006-2011 he co-founded and directed the performative initiative Public Movement, in 2011-2015 he was the artistic director of Under the Mountain: Festival of New Public Art in Jerusalem. From 2018-20 he was the founder and artistic director of 1:1 Center for Art and Politics in Tel Aviv-Yaffa. In his work he explores public experiences and is interested in the relationship between art, civil society, politics and action.
- Tomer Zirkilevich
- Michael Rubenfeld
15th of December 2023
16.30
Monument room, POLIN Museum
Monument room, POLIN Museum