Friday, October 29th, 2010 The Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum: Legacies, Appellations, Justice

Description

The Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, was established on the site of of S-21, a former Khmer Rouge security prison where more than 14 000 prisoners were interrogated prior to their execution in the nearby killing fields of Cheoung Ek. This illustrated presentation will look at the evolution of the Tuol Sleng Museum, from the immediate post-Khmer Rouge period (1979-1981), whose permanent exhibition is informed by the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, to the present day, where recent exhibitions focus on more individuating portraits of victims and perpetrators, and on notions of justice, particularly as they relate to The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), the current trials of senior Khmer Rouge leaders. A detailed look at the content and form of the permanent and temporary exhibitions at S-21 will reveal how the representational legacies of the Holocaust and the pursuit of accountability are displayed and expressed.
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Carla Shapiro is an Asian Institute Research Fellow at the Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto. She received her PhD in Media and Cultural Studies from The University of Sussex and her Master of Museum Studies from the University of Toronto. While locating her SSHRC-supported research primarily in the field of Holocaust Studies, her writings reflect an interest in genocide, human rights and social justice and their nexus in contemporary culture. Of particular interest is the efficacy of museum, gallery and community-space exhibitions as points of embarkation for historical learning and commemorative practices. She is also an independent curator whose praxis involves artistic and museological approaches to visualizing the experiences of survivors of gross human rights abuses.