Curators, archivists, and educators at Holocaust museums and former concentration camps have relied on survivor docents to guide patrons through their sites, to lead commemorations, and to conduct community and student outreach. As survivors continue to pass away, however, institutions are trying to preserve the living memory of the Holocaust through digital technologies including the Dimensions in Testimony project, which uses motion-capture technology, voice-recognition software, and AI to render over 30 living Holocaust survivors as virtual witnesses designed to interact with the public, virtual reality programs that allow simulated visits to Nazi concentration camps, and smartphone apps that make museum exhibitions available through augmented reality. At this event, students will encounter and discuss a range of AI and VR technologies that raise pressing questions as to the affective power of virtual technologies to instill, and replace, embodied experiences of the Holocaust.

The panel discussion is co-sponsored by Jewish Studies and will feature Colgate professors Neta Alexander (FMST), Ashleigh Cassemere-Stanfield (FMST), Rachel Moss (Theater), and Noah Shenker (UNST).