GIBBONS, J. (2007). Postmemory: ‘The Ones Born Afterwards’.

In: Gibbons, J. Contemporary Art and Memory: Images of Recollection and Remembrance. London: I.B.Tauris & Co Ltd.

In this chapter Gibbons discusses Marianne Hirsch concept of "postmemory" - memory of the second generation after the Holocaust or other catastrophic events; how depersonalizing experience of Holocaust affects the collective memory construction and how it works with Julia Kristeva's concept of "abject"; the concept of trauma; difference between "documentary" and "artistic" approaches in the process of reworking first-hand testimonies.


Gibbons writes about the role of architecture in Anselm Kiefer's works and how depiction of the architecture (style of the drawing/painting, angle, colour palette, architectural style, choice of precise buildings, etc.) can reflect political regimes. Can the same analysis be applied to Holocaust-related architectural (interior and exterior) works of Luc Tuymans? Gibbons also questions the role of memorials and if/how they can reflect postmemory.


Discussed in this chapter works of Boltanski - fictive biographies, stories constructed upon personal possessions and pre-Holocaust photographs of Jews - raise an ethical question of appropriateness of mocumentary art around the theme of Holocaust. The other ethical and hierarchy-related question is raised by Gibbons writing that the fact that Kiefer's works were "liked by Jewish collectors testifies not only to [their] relevance but to [their] acceptability" (Gibbons, 2007, p. 83). Is the response of art collectors representative of the response of the whole (oppressed) nation? Should art be accepted/not-accepted by the oppressed group? Should art be accepted and judged by some privileged group? How censorship can be designated nowadays, if censorship from the government differs from the censorship of the oppressed group, if censorship from the minority differs from censorship from the majority? Would the response of some group (acceptance or rejection) depend on their privileges?


#history #family #comics #memory #death #postmemory #childhood #autofiction #autobiography #sculpture #domestic #home #monument #painting #architecture #fiction #mocumentary #oppression #censorship

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