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 UN SDGs
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Lurdes Valls-Crespo Cartographies of Transitional Memory: A Philosophical Approach to Museal Perpetrator Representation Faculty of Arts Post Bellum This project explores how perpetrators of political violence are represented in museums and memory institutions in Germany, Spain, and the Czech Republic. By adopting a comparative perspective, it aims to map how different transitional justice processes—and their corresponding cultural frameworks—inform public narratives of violence, justice, and democratic values. These contrasting trajectories provide a critical lens through which to examine how museums and memory institutions mediate the legacies of political violence. Adopting an interdisciplinary methodology, the project brings together philosophical reflection, curatorial analysis, and educational research. From an ethical-aesthetic perspective, it examines how exhibitions construct meaning through spatial, visual, and discursive strategies, and how morally complex figures—such as perpetrators, collaborators, or bystanders—are made visible or remain excluded from public memory narratives. It also explores how these representations intersect with educational practices and democratic pedagogy, shaping civic understandings of violence, responsibility, and complicity. Combining theoretical inquiry with empirical fieldwork, the project includes site visits, analysis of exhibition spaces, interviews, and co-creative activities with teachers and curators. A central component is the secondment at Post Bellum, where transnational working groups will develop pedagogical tools and strengthen the organization’s international outreach. Outputs include academic publications, a methodological handbook, a podcast series, and an audiovisual glossary. The project will culminate in an international seminar that brings together researchers and memory professionals to reflect on the curatorial and ethical challenges of exhibiting perpetration. By bridging academic analysis and public humanities, it contributes to broader debates on justice, historical responsibility, and the democratic role of memory institutions. |
If you had to explain your project to someone outside your field, how would you describe it in three sentences?
My project looks at how museums and memory spaces address political violence as a process, focusing on perpetrators and other socially and morally complex figures, rather than only on victims or heroes. By comparing Germany, Spain, and the Czech Republic, I explore how different democratic transitions shape what societies are willing to show, explain, or leave unspoken about past violence. Museums are not just places where history is displayed, but spaces where violence, responsibility, and democratic values are mediated through forms, narratives, and public reflection.
What fascinates you most about the topic of your research project?
I am fascinated by the uneasy space that perpetrators occupy in public memory: they are central to understanding violence, yet often difficult to represent without simplifying, justifying, or silencing them. Museums and memory spaces make these tensions visible in subtle ways—through the forms, visual languages, and narratives they employ, as well as through what is shown, how it is framed, and what remains absent. Studying these choices reveals how societies negotiate moral responsibility and how citizens are invited to reflect on their own position in relation to past violence.
How does your research contribute specifically to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals?
My research contributes first to SDG 16 (Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions) by supporting more accountable ways of addressing legacies of political violence in the public sphere—especially through memory institutions that shape how responsibility, complicity, and democratic norms are discussed. It also supports SDG 4 (Quality Education) by co-developing open, practical resources with teachers, curators, museum guides/educators, and artists, helping translate difficult histories into reflective learning experiences for diverse audiences. It also supports SDG 4 (Quality Education) through the co-development of open, practical resources with teachers, curators, museum guides/educators, and artists, translating difficult histories into reflective learning experiences for diverse audiences.
N.B. Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Executive Agency. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
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Czech Republic
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