Professor Maiken Umbach, Professor of Modern History at the University of Nottingham, will give this introduction to the thinking and motivations behind the making of The Eye as Witness exhibition and virtual reality experience.
Leading the work, Professor Maiken Umbach said: “The urgency of taking a fresh look at the darkest moment of human history cannot be underestimated. We have relied too much on Nazi propaganda photos to visualise the horrors of the Holocaust. Focusing on the photos and testimonies of victims helps us understand issues that are sadly becoming increasingly pressing in the modern world, such as Anti-Semitism, racism, fake news, and prejudice.”
£3 entry, free for concessions. Book your ticket.
About the exhibition
The Eye as Witness: Recording the Holocaust is running Saturday 22 January - Sunday 13 March in the Djanogly Gallery at Lakeside Arts.
Admission: free
Tuesday-Saturday: 11am-5pm| Sunday: 12noon-4pm | Closed Mondays
‘The Eye as Witness’ is an immersive multimedia experience examining Holocaust photography. It has been designed to make us question the motives behind the recording of historical events and to encourage critical thinking on racism, hatred and ‘fake news’ today. The exhibition features virtual reality technology that allows visitors to ‘step into’ a picture taken by a Nazi photographer in the Warsaw Ghetto enabling them to observe what was left out of the frame of the image. The exhibition also features photos that are rarely seen today: secret pictures taken by Jewish people and members of the anti-Nazi resistance, who, at great risk to themselves, used the camera to record the story as they saw it.
The exhibition has been researched by Professor Maiken Umbach and a multi-disciplinary team as part of the AHRC funded project "Photography as Political Practice in National Socialism” and is exhibited in partnership with the National Holocaust Centre and Museum through the generous support of the Arts Council and AHRC.
Find out more about the exhibition.