Darcie Fohrman Holocaust Exhibitions: Creating the Visitor Experience
Professor Lauren Weingarden collaborated with the Holocaust Education Resource Council (HERC), in bringing museum consultant Darcie Fohrman to Tallahassee and FSU for three days of city-wide events in March 2017. Ms. Fohrman discussed her projects for Holocaust exhibitions designs, most notably, Daniel’s Story: Remember the Children, at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC. Her illustrated talk focused on the collaborative efforts to develop and design Holocaust exhibitions for three different museums over three decades. This experience influenced her subsequent museum exhibition work, in which she uses history and art to understand and confront contemporary issues.
Ms. Fohrman presented her talk at three local venues: to students at Sail High School (March 24), to the Tallahassee community at MoFA (March 26), and to FSU Museum & Cultural Heritage Studies students at MoFA (March 29). At the MCHS event, Ms. Fohrman organized a breakout session, in which small groups collaborated in conceiving a Holocaust memorial exhibition on campus. How, Ms. Fohrman asked, will you attempt to create moving visitor experiences that inspire empathy and build community awareness? Each group presented its “big idea” response to the reconvened audience. Many thanks to the Museum of Fine Arts and the College of Fine Arts for generously hosting and sponsoring Ms. Fohrman’s events.
