The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe is one of the most important monuments in Berlin. It is a labyrinth of 2,271 concrete blocks of varying heights. The number of obelisks refers to the number of pages in the Talmud, one of the most important books of Judaism. The memorial is visited daily by an average of 10,000 people.
Meanwhile, the acronym YOLO (“You Only Live Once”) is a life motto for modern teenagers. Joy, carefreeness, prosperity, peace, absence of real problems, and living in the moment are slogans eagerly embraced by Millennials and Generation Z. And although the premise of YOLO is quite valid – after all, relating to the old, good “carpe diem,” it is about noticing and celebrating important moments – it has been trivialized into a commercialized, four-letter slogan and blissful youthful irresponsibility.
What connects the Holocaust memorial with YOLO? The answer is, of course, “YOLOcaust,” a controversial, shocking project led by Shahak Shapira – an Israeli artist and satirist who has lived in Berlin for years. On the project’s website – www.yolocaust.de – its creator displays idyllic photos of smiling young people found on social media, taken in front of… the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin. When hovering over a given photo, one can see that it has been superimposed onto moving images of Holocaust victims from Nazi extermination camps.
Through his project, Shapira aims to draw attention to the thoughtless attitude many contemporary teenagers have towards Europe’s difficult history. Because how else can using the Memorial as an attractive background for yet another photo on Facebook, Instagram, or worse – Tinder – be described? How to comment on pictures of a person juggling pink balls in front of the memorial, practicing yoga, or cheerfully jumping from one obelisk to another with the caption “Jumping on dead Jews”? We can call this behavior at least shocking. The reaction to such conduct should also be shocking, which the Israeli artist has fully achieved. Effectively reaching the audience is one thing, but moving them and forcing reflection sometimes requires drastic measures.
Author of the text: Martyna
