The Fritz Ascher Society
Digital Exhibition: Identity, Art and Migration
Looking at Identity, Art & Migration Through the Lives of Seven Artists
Purpose
To design and develop a digital-only exhibition exploring the impact of migration from Nazi Germany on the lives and work of seven artists; to present and encourage conversations on the broader themes of migration and identity.
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It was a delight to work with MediaCombo. Three particular elements characterized their work: they were imaginative and creative in bringing our ideas to fruition in an effective way; they were attuned and reflective in their thinking about our project and the complexities of its myriad details; they were enormously responsive—quick and thorough—to our questions, suggestions, corrections, ambitions. An extremely satisfying experience!
Description
The digital exhibition “Identity, Art and Migration” tells the stories of a diverse group of artists: pioneering female cartoonist Lily Renée, abstract expressionist painter Friedel Dzubas, Minimal/Conceptual artist Eve Hesse, brilliant caricaturist Arthur Szyk, world renowned textile artist Anni Albers; graphic artist and teacher Rudi Lesser, and expressionist painter and poet Fritz Ascher.
The exhibition explores how age, family background, temperament and luck affected their chances to migrate to the United States and their responses to the threat of persecution or death if they remained in Germany. It asks the question: how was their identity and their art shaped by those experiences?
Our Approach
In close collaboration with the exhibition curators Rachel Stern, CEO and Director of the Fritz Ascher Society, and Ori Z. Soltes Ph.D., Teaching Professor at Georgetown University (Washington D.C.), we developed the website to explore the journey of each artist, adapting the richness of the research content in different ways.
The artists’ pages highlight the key events in their lives, and are richly illustrated with personal photographs and images of their art.
Individual maps illustrate each one’s migration. A gallery section presents all the artworks allowing visitors to see the differences in styles and materials used by each artist.
Detailed research essays about each artist and the larger themes of migration, identity and US immigration policy are also available. In addition, the Fritz Ascher Society hosted a series of online conversations about each artist as well as a conference on the themes and these recorded conversations are available on the site.
Credits
What Others
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