International Students Present Multifaceted Exhibition on the Holocaust and Second World War in the DNT's Redoute

From artificial intelligence to experiments with historical material and individual stories – the students have closely examined and question the idea of »memory« in a total of five courses. In the »The Writers Room – kollaboratives Drehbuchschreiben mit KI« course, international students from the Computer Science and Visuelle Kommunikation (Visual Communication) degree programmes developed a digital, AI-generated screenwriting assistant and collaborated on screenplays. The creative process looks at the topic of remembrance through the production process itself and through the students, who made their own individual memories, some of which involve migration experiences, the starting point for their AI collaborations.

In the »VERGESSEN« course, the goal was to explore the ideas of remembrance and forgetting in relation to the Holocaust and the Second World War through film. The result is nine different pieces, some of which deal with extremely personal, biographical issues. The »Jugend im Blick« exhibition, for instance, invites viewers to take a seat in a classroom and reflect together on what their individual first contact with National Socialism was like. Lena Tassler’s »Hinter den Gardinen« is a cinematic portrait of her grandmother. Leafing through dusty photo albums, audiences learn about the traumatisation of war, flight, and escaping a claustrophobic marriage. Audiences also get a sense of how the grandmother’s story has affected subsequent generations.

Students from Weimar collaborated with students from Graz and Roubaix to create the animation art project »Correspondences on WWII Memories«. The team produced eight animated films in just two weeks, with stories inspired by people and places in the students’ hometowns. The »Szenenbild / Kamera und Lichtsetzung« course had students design and construct a studio building that served as the backdrop for their films. In the Redoute, the students present the studio as a spatial installation where they showcase their work and the multi-layered perspectives. Three additional works from the »KI und Videocollage« course round out the extensive exhibition of student works from the Cross-Media Moving Image Department in the Faculty of Art and Design. Entrance is free of charge. 

The »Morgen ist heute gestern« exhibition is part of the »Ressource Erinnerung« week, which marks the liberation of the Buchenwald concentration camp and the end of the Second World War. The event is organised by the Deutsche Nationaltheater and the Staatskapelle Weimar. The week is supported by the Stiftung Erinnerung, Verantwortung und Zukunft (EVZ) and the Bundesministerium der Finanzen (BMF) as part of the educational programme on Nazi injustice. The »Correspondences on WWII Memories« project is funded through the Thüringer Staatskanzlei (Thuringian State Chancellery), the Franco-German Youth Office, the Kunstuniversität Graz, and ERASMUS+.

»Ressource Erinnerung«
DNT thematic week marking the liberation of the Buchenwald concentration camp and the end of the Second World War
29 March to 6 April 2025
Programme: http://www.nationaltheater-weimar.de/de/programm/ressource-erinnerung.php 

»Morgen ist heute gestern« – Design Student Exhibition
Friday, 4 April 2025
6 pm: Exhibition Opening
Followed by: Screenplay Reading
8 pm: Film Screening:

Location:
Redoute
Ettersburger Straße 61
99427 Weimar

Admission to the showcase is free of charge. 

Questions can be directed to Romy Weinhold, Press and Public Relations Officer for the Faculty of Art and Design by phone at  +49 / 36 43 / 58 11 86 or by e-mail at romy.weinhold[at]uni-weimar.de.