Introduction
This interdisciplinary exhibition delves into the entangled relationships between memory, identity, and displacement, focusing on how individuals and families reconstruct their sense of belonging amidst disrupted histories and fragmented narratives. Objects such as pottery, family archives, and collected artifacts become pivotal symbols of these explorations, serving as vessels for stories and connections to lost homelands. Each piece in the exhibition is laden with personal and historical weight, challenging our understanding of heritage and its transmission across generations.
By weaving together research on post-war displacements in Europe, Armenian-Turkish encounters, and the handling of "foreign" cultural heritage in Kaliningrad (Russia), the exhibition provokes questions about how memories are preserved, altered, or lost. It asks viewers to consider the impact of borders—both visible and invisible—on our identities, to contemplate the voids left by the absence of narratives, and to explore how these voids are filled through storytelling, imagination, shared histories, and even friendship.
The exhibition also highlights the dissonance between tangible heritage and the intangible feelings of loss and longing that accompany it. In doing so, it invites reflection on the power of objects to both connect and disconnect people, bridging or deepening the divides created by historical traumas. By presenting these narratives side by side, the exhibition creates a space where conflicting memories and histories coexist, offering a nuanced perspective on the legacies of violence, displacement, and reconciliation.
Through a blend of artistic, historical, and sociological approaches, the exhibition seeks to disrupt established narratives and stereotypes, posing questions about victimhood, culpability, and the potential for dialogue. It challenges the audience to move beyond binaries and to engage with the ambiguity and complexity of shared pasts. In confronting these questions, the exhibition becomes a site of critical reflection on how identities are formed, unmade, and transformed by the shifting sands of history and memory.
By weaving together research on post-war displacements in Europe, Armenian-Turkish encounters, and the handling of "foreign" cultural heritage in Kaliningrad (Russia), the exhibition provokes questions about how memories are preserved, altered, or lost. It asks viewers to consider the impact of borders—both visible and invisible—on our identities, to contemplate the voids left by the absence of narratives, and to explore how these voids are filled through storytelling, imagination, shared histories, and even friendship.
The exhibition also highlights the dissonance between tangible heritage and the intangible feelings of loss and longing that accompany it. In doing so, it invites reflection on the power of objects to both connect and disconnect people, bridging or deepening the divides created by historical traumas. By presenting these narratives side by side, the exhibition creates a space where conflicting memories and histories coexist, offering a nuanced perspective on the legacies of violence, displacement, and reconciliation.
Through a blend of artistic, historical, and sociological approaches, the exhibition seeks to disrupt established narratives and stereotypes, posing questions about victimhood, culpability, and the potential for dialogue. It challenges the audience to move beyond binaries and to engage with the ambiguity and complexity of shared pasts. In confronting these questions, the exhibition becomes a site of critical reflection on how identities are formed, unmade, and transformed by the shifting sands of history and memory.
