Memory Revisited. The Holocaust in European Art and Popular Culture in the New Millennium

Art and popular culture have played a crucial role in raising global - awareness of the genocide of the European Jews, and have contributed to - the development of a cosmopolitan memory of the historical event. In the - past two decades, these media have prompted many public discussions - about the future of Holocaust representation and have inevitably posed - important questions about the transmission of its memory to future - generations. Dealing with the question of how younger generations in - Europe envisage their roles as vicarious inheritors of the Holocaust, - this conference offers an opportunity to discuss artistic and - pop-cultural engagements with the topic of Holocaust memorialisation, - during the 1990s and the 2000s.The aim of this conference is to reach a - deeper understanding on why references to the Holocaust in the visual - arts and in popular culture continue to appear, what form they take, and - what they can tell us about the relevance of Holocaust memory in - contemporary European societies.

Key questions to be addressed are: What are the effects of the growing - distance from the Holocaust on current artistic imagination and popular - forms of commemoration? What do the arts and the (new) media reveal - about the processes of transmission of memory? Do media such as the - Internet provide new insights into the role that the memory of the - Holocaust plays today? What do these representations add to the enduring - tradition of reflection on the Holocaust and on the human condition?

- Memory and transmission of memory to younger generations

- Visual art and Holocaust education

- Art as a tool for commemoration and criticism

- Holocaust memory between kitsch and commercialism

- Holocaust trivialization and blasphemy in art or popular media

- The role of humour as part of a therapeutic and regenerative process

- Hitler caricatures and the ‘impiety’ of identification with the perpetrators

- Use of sarcasm and irony in recent literature, theatre and film about the Holocaust

The 3-day-conference will be held at the Hugo Valentin Centre at Uppsala - University (in cooperation with the Department of History, Stockholm - University), Sweden. We are proud to announce Prof. Silke Wenk, - Oldenburg, and Prof. Ernst van Alphen, Leiden, as keynote speakers. We - welcome papers from early-career researchers and scholars as well as - museum representatives and artists, preferably about subjects not - published previously. Participants are strongly encouraged to prepare - articles for publication, which must be submitted six weeks after the - conference. Avenues for publications are currently being explored.

Submissions for the conference should reach us no later than - 1 September 2012. Abstracts (400 words) and a short CV should be - emailed to conference organisers Tanja Schult - tanja.schulthistoria.su.se <mailto:tanja.schulthistoria.su.se>, and - Diana Popescu dip106soton.ac.uk <mailto:dip106soton.ac.uk>. Please - include name, institutional and departmental/museum affiliation, as well - as a contact email address.