Institute of Musicology, Soundscape Research Studio University of Wrocław (Poland)
Field Recordings in the Holocaust Memorial Sites
In recent years, the sound turn has also changed in Poland the forms of commemorating the victims of the Holocaust. Sound walks, sound installations and field recordings began to be organized in memorial sites (former death camps and ghettos). Sound has also become an important element of museum exhibitions. Moreover, the appearance of an album featuring fake field recordings from former execution sites has deeply problematized the status of other recordings of this kind.
In my presentation, I would like to describe selected sound projects related to memorial sites, ask about their origins and the intentions of the authors (Marcin Dymitr, Jacek Smolicki, Bolesław Wawrzyn, Elżbieta Janicka among others). Their juxtaposition itself indicates the use of various artistic strategies, establishing different relations between the sonic, visual and verbal para- texts. I will also be interested in the reception of the described projects. I would like to analyze what actually can be heard in the field recordings made in memorial sites, how sound becomes a medium of memory and in which model of commemorating the victims of the Holocaust the described projects fits into.