Peter Forgács & The Labyrinth Project: The Danube Exodus

The interactive installation deals with the displacement of ethnic minorities and the possible connections between them. Based on historic film material and recent documentary footage, it provides a space in which to experience history as a stream of moments and memories that can always be understood in new ways.

Visitors are presented with three interwoven historical narratives centering on the Danube River: One story tells of Eastern European Jews fleeing Nazi persecution in 1939, hoping to get to Palestine. The second story, set in 1940 following the Soviet reannexation of Bessarabia, tells of émigré German farmers returning to the »safety« of the Third Reich. The third story is that of Captain Nándor Andrásovits, an adventurer and amateur filmmaker, who transported both groups along the river and documented these historic journeys.

The stories shown on large adjacent screens are accompanied by immersive sounds of the journey along the river and the music of Hungarian composer Tibor Szemzö. With the use of a touch-screen monitor, visitors can select one of 18 orchestrations, and perform their version of the narrative score.