Exhibition “New Perspectives. Multimedia Works on Danish Artists in the Neuengamme Concentration Camp”

In the exhibition “New Perspectives. Multimedia Works on Danish Artists in the Neuengamme Concentration Camp,” the Memorial shows films alongside other pieces of media created by students at the Kiel University of Applied Sciences.

In the Neuengamme Concentration Camp, secret drawings were made with everything available to the prisoners, with pencils or coal on scraps of paper, the backs of forms, and in notebooks. Only a few pieces were ever published. The overwhelming majority of these works stem from shortly after liberation, on the one hand an attempt to cope with what they experienced during imprisonment, and on the other hand to document the horrors of life in the concentration camp. These artists managed to capture the terror of the camp that cannot be shown through photographs. Among these artists were many Scandinavian prisoners, including the four Danes Victor Glysing Jensen, Hans Peter Sørensen, Jens Martin Sørensen and Per Ulrich.

Students at the Kiel University of Applied Sciences examined these drawings and developed films and multimedia projects as a part of their Documentary Storytelling course, where they introduce the biographies and works of the artists and ask questions on how do we approach these drawings their histories today. An accompanying exhibition explains the historical context and introduces the project.

Next to the introductory film, there are four artist’s portraits that show completely different sides of the artists and their works. In the media project “Put Into Motion”, Armin Mofateh animated a single drawing, revealing details and highlighting accents. Visitors are encouraged to sharpen their focus by asking questions. Who and what left an impression on you? Which details did you discover from the animations that you might not have otherwise noticed? Can animations help us better understand the drawings and their history today? How do animations change your perception of the drawings? Do animations misrepresent the drawings?

These films and multimedia projects are available to see at the Neuengamme Concentration Camp Memorial (Main exhibition, 1st floor) from April 26th, 2025 until September 14th, 2025.  The exhibition will be opened during the Lange Nacht der Museen Hamburg. During the opening, Tobias Hochscherf and Christian Merten (both from the Kiel University of Applied Sciences), Alexandra Köhring (Foundation of Hamburg Memorials and Learning Centres), as well as students, all spoke. At the end, the films were presented.

The project is a cooperation between the Kiel University of Applied Sciences and the Foundation of Hamburg Memorials and Learning Centres. The exhibition and the project are funded as part of the Interreg 6A Germany-Denmark