The Limitations of Art
Talking about the Holocaust this week made me think of that memorial project we did a while back. I researched the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin and learned about the design of the memorial and the meaning behind it. The memorial, designed by Peter Eisenman, is hundreds of concrete slabs that are various heights aligned in perfect columns and rows. The different heights are supposed to create a montage effect, signifying that the impact of the Holocaust is still ongoing and prevalent. I think that this message speaks the truth for all traumatic experiences in life. We write books, compose songs, paint pictures, and retell stories to not only share the experience with others but also to relieve our own stress that we feel from these events. Although all of these ways are an outlet for people to express their thoughts and emotions, these platforms don’t necessarily give the audience the full experience. Jim Powell argues that “any art attempting to represent the Holocaust should continue to haunt us with its inability to represent the unrepresentable, to say the unsayable”, and I would have to say that this goes for all terrifying experiences and events in life. While an author does his/her best job to portray the purpose and other specific details, there is obviously a side of the piece that we as an audience are not receiving. So as a reminder, I think it’s important for us readers to keep in mind that no matter how much we analyze, infer, or interpret a certain work, we will never be able to understand the full capacity of the emotions, thoughts, and experiences of that time.
The song of the week:
The Cinematic Orchestra - To Build A Home // https://youtu.be/oUFJJNQGwhk
The song is an example of looking back to how things used to be and reminiscing. Music is just one way that people are able express themselves and that’s one reason why I love it so much. Listening to music when I’m in any type of mood instantly makes me feel better; hope you like this one :)
You make some nice points! I agree that in general representations or memorials of traumatic events can never fully grasp the fullness of the situation in something for others to view. However, I think that still making an effort, still trying to capture it is still really important. Though viewers may never fully relive the horror of events like those, it would probably be worse for us to not try to remember at all than to try and fall short.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on the fact that you will never be able to fully grasp the meaning of something unless you were there to experience it. I do think that as a society, it is our job to at least try and understand as much as we can in order to share some sympathy with those that did experience whatever the event was.
ReplyDeleteInterestingly enough, my blog post this week is very similar to yours. I made similar points saying that memorials lack the ability to fully encompass the gravity of events of the Holocaust because of its complexity in both emotional impact and overall understanding. The song you chose is really well thought because it talks about starting anew and rebuilding off of the past which is what we need to do in regard to these types of events in history.
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