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.