Austria’s Memory Turn on Display: Music Exhibitions as Pathways out of Oblivion

In the 1980s and 1990s, Austria underwent a significant reevaluation of its historical, cultural, and identity consciousness. The interplay between political and public debates at the local level and scholarly shifts at the global level led to a memory turn. Concurrently, the “new museum” redefined its functions in and for the community as a space of memory, and museum practices adjusted to the recognition of the representational and mediated character of histories and memories. Musical culture and heritage, long intertwined with Vienna’s and Austria’s identity through the well-known associations “Musikstadt” (city of music) and “Musikland” (land of music), played a crucial role in shaping and later challenging the country’s political and cultural narratives.In this article, I explore how music exhibitions in Vienna have been used as media of memory over the past decade. Using examples from three diverse institutions, I discuss key curatorial approaches to reflecting and mediating Austria’s national past and historical consciousness, particularly its responsibilities in National Socialist crimes, and to restoring silenced and forgotten histories. These approaches encompass biographical storytelling, oral history and direct testimonies, sensory and emotional engagement, musical performance, mediation of institutional history and object research, and provenance research. Overall, drawing from Jan Assmann’s concept of potentiality, the article emphasizes the potential of music exhibitions and underlying curatorial practices as powerful media and acts of memory, respectively, capable of recovering individuals and stories from oblivion and transforming histories, symbols, and acts of historical violence into sources of reconciliation and reparation.