Event 4

My fourth stop was LAMOTH. To start, I'd like to mention the architecture and design that went into engineering a building that's naturally green with insulation from both heat and sound by using a rooftop garden. It's aesthetically appealing and functional, while serving to enhance the experience inside.
The unique design enhances the viewer's experience by echoing the subject matter in each exhibit - moving from natural lighting to a subdued setting and descending into dimmer rooms with lower ceilings speaks to the viewers saddened emotions as they are immersed in the Concentration Camp room, then they ascend into the light while learning about the resistance, liberation, and art and music, then finally into full sunlight again once reaching the memorial outside. This ingenuity incorporates psychobiology and art by manipulating the senses to feel stronger emotions with the changing tone and setting within the exhibit. You feel like you are a part of the experience, not just on the outside looking in.

The key point that I took away was that art is not an inanimate object, it provokes emotions, actions, and change. Art comes in many forms, as we have seen, but in this particular case, we see an old Walt Disney Motion Picture, music and literature, camp models, and an interactive touch screen that displays photography of Jews who passed away during the Holocaust. Some of this art was used to encourage change during that sad times and some came about as a response to the bio-psycho-social phenomena of using gas chambers to exterminate mass amounts of Jews.




There were many inmates who produced drawings and depictions of their experiences in the concentration camps. Inmates who produced clandestine art did so at risk to their lives. Such artists used their talents to create works as an expression of their own humanity. When the liberation forces were examining the ghettos and camps, thousands of pictures drawn by children and adults were discovered. They bear silent testimony to man's eternal need to create, and portray for future generations a way of living and dying that the Reich tried to hide. David Olère, a camp survivor, depicted his experiences in this work of art. 

There were government responses as well through use of propaganda art to spark support for purchasing war bonds, producing mass weaponry, and wartime technology. Art was used to fuel such technological drive and robotics just as much as chemical extermination and technology were driving art propaganda. Art always has been a medium that connects people by crossing language and cultural barriers to inspire feelings like sympathy, anger, and sadness. Art found by inmates, and effected family members also led to a revolutionary movement in music. 

We can see the the massive impact that the Holocaust has had on art, science, and technology through such documentation of literature, artwork, and propaganda, as well as by current technology. There is no better form of education than interactive learning. Visitors can listen to facts in a headset as they make their way through the museum, listen to music, see replicas of campsites, and interact with the touch screen table of personal victim's stories and artifacts. This technology was my favorite part of the whole museum, possibly because I'm kinesthetic and liked being able to manipulate my learning by selecting images, artwork, and artifacts. However, the overall experience was very enlightening and I would recommend going if you have never seen a Holocaust museum.