WOW Jubilee 2020 VI

For presenting SFC – Shoah Film Collection to an audience, Agricola de Cologne created a special event project ‐ A Virtual Memorial – Commemorative Interventions ‐ which is placing SFC in the context of complementary interventions like lectures, a symposium, workshops, courses, exhibitions, artists talks, discussions and much more, in order to sensitize and activate the audience, as well.

Presenting SFC- Shoah Film Collection in Riga under the Patronage of the European Parliament had four components, i.e. during the main intervention days 1‐3 June 2012 ‐ the screening of the entire collection, the artists presentations including artists talks and discussions on, on 4‐6 June 2012 the presentation of SFC as an initiative on 1st International Conference of Holocaust Museums, organized by Riga Ghetto and Latvian Holocaust Museum, and the exhibition of SFC installed on flat-screen monitors on the floating art gallery NOASS 1‐30 June 2012 (after prolongation).
As a project, A Virtual Memorial Riga 2012 had a kind of pioneer character in most different ways. It is the first of a series of events to take place during the coming months and years at many places around the globe.

As a traditional trading metropole at the Baltic Sea, Riga had in the Past a particular relevance for Jewish life in an exchange between Eastern, Northern und and other parts of Europe, during the Nazi era Riga Ghetto got a very doubtful fame, since most Jews in the ghetto were massacred in Latvia or later in Auschwitz and other death camps, so that at the end of the Holocaust Jewish life was nearly completely erased in Riga and Latvia (in general). After World War II especially after the collapse of the Communist system, Riga became a shelter for Jews from Russia, so that slowly Jewish life is developing again in Riga, and this way also the need for exploring former Jewish life in Latvia.

Getting Riga Ghetto and Latvian Holocaust Museum – and Rabbi Menachem Barkahan – as a most competent partner in this concern, and Culture and Arts Project NOASS – and Dzintarz Zilgalvis – in terms of contemporary art, was very fortunate for realizing this experimental event project, entitled: ” A Virtual Memorial Riga 2012″, because the event, as such, had an initializing effect for keeping vivid the memory of the collective trauma which the Holocaust will represent for all times.

The media art project “A Virtual Memorial Riga 2012” will continue to be an active project due to its status as a public memorial site in Internet, but it is also the conceptual intention to let further, but different physical and virtual manifestations happen.

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Agricola de Cologne (Cologne/Germany)
is a multidisciplinary media artist and curator living and working in Cologne/Germany.
He had more than 100 solo exhibitions in cooperation with 80 museums in Europe, South America and USA, he is participating since 2000 in more than 500 media exhibitions and festivals around the globe. His media art works received numerous prizes and awards.

http://agricola-de.cologne

A Virtual Memorial – Commemorative Interventions ‐ RIGA 2012 –
a collaboration between – Riga Ghetto & Latvian Holocaust Museum , association “SHAMIR”, Culture & Arts Project NOASS Riga & artvideoKOELN ‐ curatorial initiative “art & moving images” ‐
is the contextual framework for presenting SFC – Shoah Film Collection ‐ as a media art exhibtion in Riga ‐ and a side event in the framework of the International Conference of Holocaust Museums organised by Riga Ghetto & Latvian Holocaust Museum – 4‐6 June 2012

15h intervention @ Riga Ghetto and Latvian Holocaust Museum
guided by Rabbi Menachem Barkahan

19h official opening for the public @ BETANOVUSS
introducing lecture by Wilfried Agricola de Cologne

16h Artist talk with Shelley Jordon (USA) – afterwards lecture
17h Artist talk and lecture by Cristiano Berti (Italy) ‐ SFC Participant
19h screening SFC – Shoah Film Collection, afterwards panel discussion

Sunday, 3 June 2012

The artists talks are moderated by Agricola de Cologne

It needs to be mentioned, that to the category “interventions” also the “private” reception at the appartment of the Cultural Attaché of Israeli Embassy in Riga was belonging, since not only staff members of the Israeli Embassy were present, but also cultural attachés from divers embassies in Riga, so that one can speak of an inofficial “private view” on 31 May 2012 before the official “private view” on 1 June 2012, 12h a.m.

So, all these circumstances made this “private view” on 1 June 2012, and this way also the entire project, really spectacular, which was taking place at one the most unique locations in Riga, the floating art galleries NOASS and BETANOVUSS situated at the Daugava river in front of the beautiful panorama of Riga.

Agricola de Cologne had the honour to guide her Excellency the Israeli Ambassador through the exhibition “How Memories Survive”, consisting of three individual exhibitions located at different levels of the floating art galleries NOASS and BETANOVUSS., i.e “Mortale”, a selection from 10000 handmade drawings Paolo Bonfiglio (Italy) was creating for his animated film, entitled “Mortale”,
which is part of Shoah Film Collection, exhibited at the lower level on NOASS, while the upper level was presenting experimental photographs by Eitan Vitkon, who was visualizing the performance, the invited Israeli artist Doron Polak was preparing for Riga, the city of his ancestors, and the third exhibition, presenting Shoah Film Collection as an installation.
The final highlight of this private view was the performance by Doron Polak on BETANOVUSS. The conceptual background was his father’s diary from Riga Ghetto, which he survived. The main goal of the exhibitions is to give the visitors background information about the making of the films of Shoah Film Collection and dealing artistically with the Holocaust, and in this way, a better and deeper understanding about the subject matter, as such.

The next “private view” and intervention took place directly afterwards, at 15h, when Rabbi Menachem Barkahan was guiding himself the visiting artists through Riga Ghetto and Latvian Holocaust Museum,
which can currently considered to be a kind of open air museum, while the indoor museum is currently under construction, yet.

1. Installation and screening of Shoah Film Collection
2. “Peeling” – experimental photography by Eitan Vitkon (Israel)
3. “Mortale” – “the making of” of the animated film by Paolo Bonfiglio (Italy)
4. Special performance for RIGA by Doron Polak (Israel)
5. Interventions by Doron Polak & Eitan Vitkon at the Rumbula Forest
6. “Shoah Film Collection” @ 1st International Conference of Holocaust Museums

The exhibtions were opened during the private view on 1 June 2012 by the Ambassador of the Israel, Her Excellency Ms. Hagit Ben-Yaakov, and were running until 30 June 2012.

Agricola de Cologne had the honour to guide her Excellency the Israeli Ambassador through the exhibition “How Memories Survive”, consisting of three individual exhibitions located at different levels of the floating art galleries NOASS and BETANOVUSS., i.e “Mortale”, a selection from 10000 handmade drawings Paolo Bonfiglio (Italy) was creating for his animated film, entitled “Mortale”, which is part of Shoah Film Collection, exhibited at the lower level on NOASS, while the upper level was presenting experimental photographs by Eitan Vitkon, who was visualizing the performance, the invited Israeli artist Doron Polak was preparing for Riga, the city of his ancestors, and the third exhibition, presenting Shoah Film Collection as an installation. The final highlight of this private view was the performance by Doron Polak on BETANOVUSS. The conceptual background was his father’s diary from Riga Ghetto, which he survived. The main goal of the exhibitions is to give the visitors background information about the making of the films of Shoah Film Collection and dealing artistically with the Holocaust, and in this way, a better and deeper understanding about the subject matter, as such.

Eitan Vitkon /Doron Polak

Shoah Film Collection

Paolo Bonfiglio

Performance by Doron Polak

Intervention @ Riga’s Rumbula Forest on 2 June 2012

1st International Conference of Holocaust Museums

One of the next highlights was on 4 June 2012, when SFC – Shoah Film Collection was presented as an initiative on 1st International Conference of Holocaust Museums, organised by Riga Ghetto and Latvian Holocaust Museum.
It was the most spectacular of all conference sessions, consisting of the ambassadors of Austria, The Netherlands, Czech Republik, Belarus and Agricola de Cologne, who started the session by introducing SFC – Shoah Film Collection, followed by a discussion with the ambassadors and their blunt confessions, how the respective nations deal nowadays with the memory of Holocaust.

A special site related intervention took place, when Doron Polak and Eitan Vitkon were realising during the morning of 2 June 2012 their particular contribution to A Virtual Memorial Riga 2012 at the memorial site of Rumbula forest (near Riga), the filmic and photographic shooting of Doron Polak’s tribute to his fathers roots in Riga which was including the attending artists in person, a symbolical action of an intense artistic power.

Interventions @ Rumbula Forest

Rumbula Forest Memorial – photo by Agricola de Cologne

The four artists participating in the interventions – photo by the 5th artist Agricola de Cologne

experimental photo from Rumbula forest by Eitan Vitkon

experimental photo from Ruibula Forest by Eitan Vitkon

Polak – Stages of Memory

see special project documentation
–> http://ateamartistsforchange.wordpress.com/category/latvian-category/

A Virtual Memorial Riga 2012

In the main, we support the realization of contemporary arts projects in an urban environment, making art part of the daily lives of residents of Riga and visitors to the city. Furthermore, for several years now we have participated in the planning and programming of the contemporary arts forum, “White Night”, the annual “Riga City Festival” and the “International Museums Night”, as well as realizing a range of individual projects.

In recent years, the Culture and Arts Project NOASS actively are involved in international projects, one of our main tasks is Latvian contemporary cultural promotion at the European level. NOASS is one of the most active Trans Europe Halles – TEH (European Network of Independent Cultural Centres) members, also we are active in ENCC – European Network of Cultural Centres. Actively involved in the volunteer work, regularly sending candidates from Latvia to gain experience in other countries.

“Waterpieces” Contemporary Arts and Video Festival
The “Waterpieces” festival dates back to 2001. It’s an annual festival of video and contemporary art which consists of a competition for video works, as well as screenings of international programs thus providing a comprehensive insight into the latest works of contemporary art linked to the moving image. more >>
http://noass.lv/udensgabali

Noass Video Art Archive
The Latvian Video Art Archive has been created as the only national video art database. It is available for free and covers the entire history of Latvian video art from the late 1980′s through to the present day. The platform for the Latvian Video Art Archive  Database is the videoteque which has been established and built up over a number of years by Culture and Arts Project NOASS. Among the works to be found in the videoteque are:
• Latvian-French video art festival (1989-1995) archive (from the collection of art historian, Laima Slava); • Artists’ video works collated by exhibition; • Artists’ video works submitted individually from personal collections (1985 – 2009); • Selections of works compiled from the competition archives of “Waterpieces” international video and contemporary art festivals (2001- 2008).
To ensure that the collation of information is as complete as possible, materials are also drawn from other Latvian video art festivals (“2ANNAS”, “Ahūns”), diploma works and course works by students from Jānis Rozentāls Art High School, video works by students from the Latvian Art Academy, as well as a collection of those created by Culture Academy students. All of the works submitted have been reviewed by a group of experts. If the works are deemed to be good enough for inclusion in the archive, they are then systematized and archived. go to the archive >>>
http://livepage.apple.com/

Naive art museum of Latvia
The Museum operates during the summer season (from May until October).
Thanks to the partnership between Noass and the New Riga Development Company, the Naive Art Museum of Latvia opened on Andrejsala in the autumn of 2006.
The Naive Art Museum of Latvia has defined its operating goal as being the collection of works of naïve art, as well as their preservation, study and promotion. The Museum’s task is to preserve the cultural and historical heritage of naïve art for future generations and to use it to educate the general public. The Museum devotes particular attention to the identification and preservation of works by contemporary Latvian naïve artists including painters and sculptors and the establishment of core exposition of works at the Museum.
Based on the material that has been collected and researched, the Museum is implementing a wide ranging complex of educational measures. Since 2007, the Museum has focused on promoting works by Latvian naïve artists abroad (Fest Naive 2007, Fest Naive 2010 – Moscow). In 2007, the Museum was awarded the status of a State accredited museum. In February 2009, “Culture and Arts Project NOASS” was accepted into the Ministry of Culture’s Association of Professional Culture Organization which gives us the chance to apply for State grants to ensure public access to the Museum’s collection. more about museum >>
http://noass.lv/museum

Noass and Betanovuss
In 2008, NOASS celebrated the 10th anniversary of its launch. We marked this anniversary with the reconstruction of the BETANOVUSS floating gallery. With support from the construction company, “RE&RE” in 2008 NOASS has continued to establish a non-commercial contemporary culture centre whose centre of activity is based at two river boat platforms, “BETANOVUSS” and “NOASS”.
“BETANOVUSS” is a 197 m2 large floating stage with a 57 m2 amphitheatre where residents of Riga can see “small form” theatre exhibitions and contemporary dance performances and where various art genres freely interact.

A.Residence – Artist – In – Residence
In recent years, NOASS has expanded the locale of its activity to the former Port of Riga territory at Andrejsala. Since 2006, this has been the home of the Latvian Museum of Naïve Art and in the spring of 2009, we started work to create a residency house in this wonderful district which has become the heart of alternative culture in Riga. Andrejsala provides a vibrant environment where various exhibition openings, concerts and happenings take place. It’s a place where one can easily make friends among the local artists.
The residency’s goal is to provide artists with the chance to discover Riga, one of region’s most beautiful cities and its eclectic cultural life, thus inspiring them to create new works in the realm of visual arts, art criticism and literature. We also hope to develop the residency centre as an international meeting place where art professionals will have the chance to get to know one another, exchange ideas and create new joint art projects. Leveraging Riga’s geographical advantages, it is hoped to give artists the chance to discover the other Baltic States and their cultural life (Riga is sandwiched in the middle between Tallinn in Estonia and Vilnius in Lithuania).
• Duration: A week to several months.
• Founded: 2009
• Discipline: Visual Arts , Curating/Research, Media Art, Video art, Photography, Performance arts, Literature, Culture operators.
• Target group: International, National
• Deadline: 2 months before the start of the expected Residency. Applications can be sent all year long.

more about Residencies >>>http://livepage.apple.com/

International Cooperation
Until now, “Culture and Arts Project NOASS” has primarily focussed on supporting contemporary culture environment and experimental projects in Latvia, but for its goal in 2009, it has defined its goal as the integration of Latvian culture into the overall European cultural events cycle.
Since 2007, “Culture and Arts Project NOASS” has operated within the TEH- Trans Europe Halles – European Network of Independent Culture Centres. TEH supports a range of creative initiatives in the European Union and has a membership comprised of 50 culture and arts organizations from 26 countries.
Since 2008, “Culture and Arts Project NOASS” has functioned as a EVS – European Volunteer Services sending and hosting organization, thus promoting the mobility of young people who are interested in cultural and arts events among various public organizations. Also, NOASS is registered in PADOR database which is managed by EuropeAid. PADOR or “Potential Applicants Data Online Registration” is a recent applicant processing system introduced by European Commissions through EuropeAid to understand and maintain extensive information about NGOs requesting funds from it for collaboration projects with worldwide organizations.

Riga Ghetto & Latvian Holocaust Museum

Since 2018, both memorial sites belong to – The 7 Memorials for Humanity – http://7mfh.a-virtual-memorial.org
Wilfried Agricola de Cologne is director and curator of artvideoKOELN – the international platform for audiovisual art & The New Museum of Networked Art, as well as the creator of the memorial sites of „The 7 Memorials for Humanity“ – initiated, developed and curated between 2009 and 2019.
In 2020 a couple of anniversaries will be celebrated, 10 years „The d/i/light Memorial“ aka The Shoah Film Collection, 15 years artvideoKoeln & 20 years The New Museum of Networked Art.

The inclusion of young contemporary artists contributed to finding a visual creative expression in photography, painting and video art – a representation of real, honest, intensive and current work dealing with the Holocaust. Each participant presented in his or her own artistic language, painful and personal interpretations of this topic. In addition, this was an exciting meeting between artists, each with their own real and personal story that influenced them – until deciding to deal with the subject of the Holocaust. It is important to remember that actually creating around the subject of the Holocaust has aspects that are relevant for today, in addition to those that focus again and again on what happened. Regrettably, the topic of control, the journeys of death and humiliation, the destruction of nations and oppression of peoples, are still day to day topics that can be found in different parts of the world. The advancement and development of culture has not been able to stop the inherent catastrophe in man’s behaviour towards fellow man.
The meeting of artist in the NOASS Gallery in Riga around the topic of art dealing with the Holocaust, presented a series of formidable achievements that are an enlightened example of high-quality creativity connected to every-day realities whose educational goals are no less important or evident than their artistic ones. The mere holding of such a meeting in the place where the Riga Ghetto used to stand while allowing to visit the sites, especially the Holocaust Museum – the place that is today reconstructing that period – this alone created a unique and stunning experience. For me personally, as I said, it was the experience of a lifetime to recognise the names of my grandmother, uncle and most of his family that perished here, on the plaque of names of the Holocaust victims of Riga.

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The darkness is not only related to the Holocaust and the light to the victims who enter the light via commemorating, but also to the fact, that Agricola de Cologne’s first project juxtaposing the historical Holocaust with the history of Nazism and Neo-Fascism was destroyed in a politically rightwing motivated attack (vandalism) in autumn 1998. The remnants of the destruction became a memorial for itself, also for destroyed illusions. The artist and his artwork – now the victims of own artistic aims – had become late victims of the Holocaust. The light is that after a coma lasting many months, the artist re-emerged, and in the year 2000 began a new life as an artist and as a human without the burden of memory.

The second project – another attempt to search and research for new ways for commemorating the Holocaust and the millions of victims via artistic concepts – was launched 15 years later, on 27 January 2010, based on the meanwhile renown “Shoah Film Collection, which differently than the first project is realized in the social context of a community, when the artist is simultaneously also a curator and a mediator in different ways – incorporating more 100 art films and videos – artists from 30 countries commemorate the Holocaust and show face against Anti-Semitism, Racism & Intolerance.

The Project

On the symbolical date of 27 January 2010, the 65th return of the Liberation of the Concentration Camp of Auschwitz – the internationally renown media artist and curator Wilfried Agricola de Cologne launched SFC -Shoah Film Collection – an independent art project and international initiative addressed to young generations of artists and filmmakers to deal with the topic of Shoah (Holocaust) and collective trauma caused by totalitarianism by using new technologies and contemporary approaches in order to keep vivid the memory of humanity through sensitizing via art. Meanwhile an outstanding collection of experimental and documentary art film & videos contributed by more than 60 artists from 14 countries was raising.
It is not the first time that Agricola de Cologne was dealing with the Holocaust. When he started after the fall of the Wall in Berlin (1989) his first mobile memorial project “A Living Memorial Spaces of Art” to be launched in 1995 on occasion of the 50th return of the end of World War II as his personal contribution for the reconciliation between Germans & Jews and German & Polish people, the time of the technology and media development was not yet mature enough for realizing his ideas for incorporating movement in this contemporary art project. Standing under the Patronage of the late President of Central Jewish Council of Germany, Ignatz Bubis, this mobile memorial was installed until 1998 43 times in Poland, Czech Republic & Germany.
While young generations are not affected directly any more 70 years after the historical Holocaust, they are confronted currently instead of this with the global wide phenomena of terror, violence, persecution and expulsion which have their roots in the same kind of insane ideology causing the Holocaust. Understanding them these days means understanding the Holocaust 70 years ago.
But the Holocaust is not only standing as a symbol for death and destruction, but also as the victory of humanity. So, keeping vivid the memory of the Holocaust means always to keep vivid the memory of humanity for future generations. The Holocaust must not happen again, neither in Rwanda, nor Middle East, nor Latin America nor elsewhere in the world. Never more!
From the beginning of mankind, art has been used as a medium for transporting individual and collective memory from the Past to the Present and Future. In these terms, especially since 2000, the new media technologies allow advanced forms of artistic expressions by involving the people, viewers or users more directly via audio-visual media and interactivity.

In 2012, SFC – Shoah Film Collection became the starting point for the expanded initiative CTF – Collective Trauma Film Collections dealing with collective trauma caused by totalitarianism worldwide, incorporating later in 2012 the collection of documentaries by young Cambodian film makers – Cambodia 1975-1979 – focussing on the genocide in Cambodia and the post genocide era until these days, a collaboration with Royal University of Phnom Penh, MetaHouse Phnom Penh, GIZ (Germany) and artvideoKOELN.

In order to make the Shoah Film Collection available to a wider audience, Wilfried Agricola de Cologne created an experimental event context, entitled: A Virtual Memorial – Commemorative Interventions which is placing SFC –Shoah Film Collection in the context of complementary interventions, such as lectures, exhibitions, a symposium, artists presentations, screenings performances of different kind and much more in order to start a discussion on many levels and activate the artists, as well as the audience.

After the first pilot project „ A Virtual Memorial Riga2012“ – a collaboration between Riga Ghetto and Latvian Holocaust Museum and NOASS – The Latvian Video Art Archives and artvideoKOELN/Wilfried Agricola de Cologne, and the second one,„A Virtual Memorial Vilnius 2013“ a collaboration between The Jewish Cultural Center Vilnius and State Gaon Jewish Museum Vilnius and artvideoKOELN/Wilfried Agricola de Cologne.

A Virtual Memorial Foundation & artvideoKOELN international – are cultural projects directed by Wilfried Agricola de Cologne.

Since 2012, manifestations of SFC have been taken place in Riga, Vilnius, Warsaw and Milan under the Patronage of the “European Parliament”, and additional manifestations 2011 in St. Petersburg (Russia), Szeczin (Poland), Arad (Romania) and Mexico City (Mexico), 2012 in Phnom, Penh (Cambodia) & Warsaw (Poland), 2014 in Tel-Aviv (Israel), Timisoara (Romania) and Moscow Russia).

Details on ” A Virtual Memorial – International Center for Commemorative Interventions”
http://avmci.a-virtual-memorial.org