Digital Cultures, New Media, & Cultural Analytics research cluster (Future Humanities Insitute)

JAMES KAPALÓ is Senior Lecturer in the Study of Religions at UCC. His current research focuses on the religious underground and state security in twentieth century Central and Eastern Europe. He was PI of the Hidden Galleries ERC project (no. 677355) from 2016-2021 that explored material religious heritage in the state security archives in Hungary, Romania and Moldova. TATIANA VAGRAMENKO is Senior Postdoctoral researcher in the Study of Religions at UCC. She is Principal Investigator in the SFI-IRC Pathway project “History Declassified: The KGB and the Religious Underground in Soviet Ukraine” (2022-2026).

Thursday March 9th, 5pm

The Shtepps, UCC Hub

The Soviet secret police produced visual, graphic and textual materials of religious groups in order to present them as dangerous enemies of the state, as terrorists and saboteurs of the communist system. Using secret police sources, we reconstructed these stories from a different perspective. Using virtual and augmented reality, we created a digital exhibition that brings to life the underground spaces and lives of religious communities in the Soviet Union. In this presentation, we will discuss our experience of working with a computer graphics team specialising in the digitalization and visualization of cultural heritage and digital storytelling, reflecting on the challenges associated with translating and mediating research dealing with traumatic historical events.