Reverberations
Ensuring that as survivors pass, their stories remain a living part of our collective memory.
Overview
As the generation of Holocaust survivors dwindles, the world faces a crisis of memory: how do we keep these stories personal when the storytellers are gone? For the Sydney Jewish Museum, we created Reverberations, an exhibition designed to future-proof the human connection to history. We moved beyond static video screens to create an interactive dialogue. By integrating AI technology developed by the USC Shoah Foundation, we allow visitors to do the impossible: have a face-to-face conversation with a survivor, asking their own questions and receiving real-time answers.
Partners
Sydney Jewish Museum, USC Shoah Foundation
Services
Exhibit Design, Media Design
The Details
The design makes the concept of memory physical. We used lenticular walls that shift as visitors move, revealing the question "Why do you share your story?" from one angle and the image of a survivor from another—a visual metaphor for how perspective shapes history. The centerpiece is the interactive biography, where voice recognition software matches visitor questions with thousands of pre-recorded responses. This transforms the visitor from passive listener into active historian, ensuring that the act of bearing witness remains a two-way street.
