University of Birmingham – Remembering is Painful, Forgetting is Unbearable: Creative Responses to Terror
February 11 - February 22
Remembering is Painful, Forgetting is Unbearable explores questions such as why do some terror attacks make international headlines while others remain in the shadows? How do survivors of terror attacks make sense of their experiences? Whose voices are marginalised in contemporary debates about terrorism? And crucially, what role does art play in the practices of remembering, bearing witness, confronting, and transforming trauma?
The title of this exhibition, inspired by the words of Anne Murris, a mother who lost her daughter in the 2016 Nice attack, captures the tension at its core; the ongoing struggle between the pain of memory and the unbearable void of forgetting.
Developed in collaboration with survivors of recent terror attacks in Europe, as well as international artists and researchers, this exhibition presents a critical, survivor-centred perspective on terrorism today. This collective attempt opens dialogues to challenge linear perspectives on the passing of time and the experience of victimhood, and creates counter-memories that resist sanitised histories.
Commissioned by University of Birmingham, funded by European Research Council.
Exhibition ends: Saturday 22 February 2025 5.00pm
Featured image: Katharina Karcher, Obstructed view of mural by Kollektiv ohne Namen, Frankfurt, 2020