Join our Kick-off on 8 October in Vienna

What happens to memories of persecution, flight and exile as they are passed from one generation to the next? How do we tell stories of the Holocaust as the voices of contemporary witnesses become increasingly rare? And what new perspectives can literature, film and performance open up?

These questions are central to MEM-ART UNI. To mark the public launch of the project, we invite you to join us at the Hofburg Vienna on Thursday, 8 October 2026, from 10:00 to 14:15 CEST.

• View the programme in German (PDF)

Passing Stories On, Telling Them Anew

The workshop opens with a short reading and conversation with the Austrian writer Vladimir Vertlib. This will be followed by a panel discussion with Julia Demmer (ERINNERN:AT), Tanja Eckstein (Centropa), Vladimir Vertlib and Yvonne Zivkovic (MUSMIG). Together, they will discuss how stories of the Holocaust can be remembered, retold and passed on to future generations today. The discussion is conceived as an open conversation, and members of the audience are warmly invited to join in, ask questions and contribute their own perspectives.

Exploring Memory through Performance

In the afternoon, our team member Kathrin-Julie Zenker (Aix-Marseille Université) will lead a participatory Memory-Performance Lab. The starting point is the testimony of Lisa Rosenbaum (1932–2026), read by her niece Anne Rosier. In small groups, participants will reflect on their impressions, questions and personal responses and explore different ways of engaging with individual memory and historical experience. The event will be held in German.