Berlin, Germany -- (SBWIRE) -- 12/21/2013 -- Elana Katz is a Jewish-American conceptual artist currently based in Berlin, Germany, working primarily in the mediums of performance art photography. Working often from a historical basis, Elana Katz’s work confronts cultural conventions, critically examines the complexity that lies within contradictions, and thus aims to create an experience of unlearning the assumed.

SPACED MEMORY is a multimedia project that documents the disappearance and erasure of Jewish sites of Eastern Europe during and since the Holocaust. These instances of historical erasure are a result of the Second World War, of post-war communist governments, and/ or of continuing anti-Semitism. They include an overwhelming number of cemeteries, synagogues, and buildings important to the Jewish community that were destroyed, built-over, desecrated, and now whose history has simply been forgotten. SPACED MEMORY is comprised of research, photography, video, and site-specific performances that examine post-memory and absence at these sites of historical erasure. The work alters perception of the present through an historical lens, fosters historical awareness and dialogue in diverse contemporary communities, and calls attention to places where history has fallen silent.

So far, this project has been a completely independent initiative personally financed by Elana herself. This has been a source of great personal struggle for her, leading Elana to launch this crowdfunding campaign to finally complete this project. The project has generated a great deal of non-monetary support, but Elana needs resources in order to continue and complete the work that she has begun. The funds that backers will help Elana to raise will make it possible to:

1. Spend a period of several months dedicated to intense research and creation of site-specific and responsive artwork in Romania and in Serbia (3 months maximum, respectively for each country).
2. Travel within Romania and Serbia to find remote, non-urban, sites of historical erasure.
3. Collaborate with an interpreter for this research, travel, and site-specific production process.
4. Archive collected photographic and video research material.
5. Realize site-specific performances - a budget is needed for performance materials, performance documentation (photographer and videographer), and performance promotion..

Elana has already received invitations to present this work at multiple venues upon its completion, so once it is fully realized, it will reach international audiences through public artist talks, exhibitions, and publications.

This campaign will receive all funds raised even if it does not reach its goal. Funding duration: November 19, 2013 - December 24, 2013 (11:59pm PT).

Indiegogo Page: http://bit.ly/19Csh5C