When you listen to a witness, you become a witness.
― Elie Wiesel
Elie Wiesel was a Holocaust survivor and a prolific writer; his powerful message is a reminder to hear survivors speak, so we can bear witness to their testimony. But as time passes and there are fewer living survivors, how can we ensure future generations bear witness? In today’s edition of Muse News, I’m going to explore the USC Shoah Foundation’s virtual reality film The Last Goodbye, the first VR to take viewers to a concentration camp. In this film you walk alongside Pinchas Gutter, a Toronto-based Holocaust survivor, as he returns to the former concentration camp Majdanek, where his entire family was killed during the Holocaust. Over the last month, I have had the privilege of working on the Neuberger Holocaust Education Centre’s special presentation of this film in partnership with the USC Shoah Foundation. Today, I’m going to consider how this precedent-breaking, newsworthy project may shape the future of memory.
 |
| Promotion for USC Shoah Foundation's VR film, The Last Goodbye. Source. |
Background: Creating The Last Goodbye
The USC Shoah Foundation is an organization dedicated to preserving and sharing the testimonies of individuals who have survived genocide. The Foundation was born from the making of the film Schindler’s List, when the director, Steven Spielberg, understood the need to capture survivors’ complete testimonies and preserve their narratives. Today, the Foundation’s Visual History Archive includes over 55,000 video testimonies of survivors and witnesses of genocide.
The Last Goodbye is the Foundation’s latest effort to re-imagine the future of survivor testimony using computer technology. In July 2016, Pinchas Gutter, a Holocaust survivor based in Toronto, returned to the concentration camp where his entire family was killed during the Holocaust. To create the film, Pinchas was accompanied by a filming crew that captured thousands of photos that were stitched together to create 3D images that were then paired with his video testimony. The result: a haunting VR film where the viewer has the feeling that they are walking alongside Pinchas as he returns to Majdanek, while hearing him reflect on this place of suffering and loss.
The film premiered in April 2017 at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival. In September 2018, The Last Goodbye premiered at four museums located in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and St. Petersburg, Florida.
Today: Finding New Audiences in Toronto
Over the last month, I have helped facilitate The Last Goodbye during its Toronto premiere, presented by the Sarah and Chaim Neuberger Holocaust Education Centre and the USC Shoah Foundation.
The special presentation is a part of the Neuberger Centre’s annual Holocaust Education Week programming, but this program is completely unlike anything offered in the past. The presentation is hosted at Ctrl V North York, a venue that offers virtual reality experiences year-round. Hosting the program at this venue, which is equipped with VR technology and a purpose-built space, means that up to 17 viewers can experience the film simultaneously. The Neuberger Centre offered open hours where members of the public could experience the film, as well as private bookings for school groups.
I have facilitated several public viewings and heard from visitors after the extremely moving experience. When you are in the film, you are prompted to walk around and look at the terrible place as Pinchas recounts his own history. The film is playing simultaneously in individual stations, which means each viewer can interact with the VR film on their own, but afterwards there is a group of people that have all experienced this powerful, immersive testimony.
Tomorrow: Navigating the Future of Memory
The Last Goodbye represents an important innovation: using virtual reality technology to share survivor testimonies. The technology may provide a route to connecting to future audiences who live in a time where there are no more first-hand witnesses of the Holocaust. The VR experience simulates returning to a concentration camp with a survivor, and for a future generation, this may be the closest they can get to walking alongside a survivor as they hear first-hand testimony.
More and more museums are beginning to incorporate technology like VR to create immersive experiences for visitors, but I wanted to understand current impressions of VR from the perspective of someone studying user-centered technology. I asked Vipasha Shaikh, a student studying User Experience Design (UXD), if VR has the potential to engage future generations. Vipasha commented:
wouldn't be surprised if it gets adapted on a wider scale in this capacity by museums.
I'm uncertain if this will be the case for other industries.
In addition to this “digital storytelling,” others have compared VR to an “empathy machine” where individuals literally see the world through another’s eyes. The Last Goodbye is a critical intervention in the trajectory of both VR and Holocaust education, as it asks the viewer to experience the testimony of a survivor and see a site where thousands were killed.
The film transforms the viewer into a witness, and for future generations without living Holocaust survivors, this experience could be transformational.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.