eachnamematters light and sound installation

The light and sound installation #eachnamematters is a project by the Mauthausen Memorial in collaboration with Ars Electronica Linz. Since 2021, the event has been held annually around the anniversary of the liberation on 5 May. As part of a large-scale video installation, the names of those known to have died in the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp system are projected at places of remembrance; at the same time the names can also be heard. The aim of #eachnamematters is to highlight the individual fates of those who died, thus giving the victims back their identity and dignity. The projections are live-streamed to enable people around the world to join in silent commemoration. At the same time, the project encourages everyone to share their own thoughts and memories using the hashtag #eachnamematters on social media. #eachnamematters was first shown in the evenings of 4 to 6 May 2021 at the Mauthausen Memorial, where 16.6 million pixels covered the 120-metre-long outer wall.

Since then, the installation has taken visitors to the Gusen Memorial in Langenstein, to the entrance area of the ‘Bergkristall’ tunnel complex, and to the main square in Linz, where the projection on the bridgehead buildings (a collaboration with the University of Arts Linz) in 2024 heralded the move into public space.

In the Memorial Year 2025, #eachnamematters will be on display for the first time in Vienna: on the facade of the Hofburg Palace – the place from which Adolf Hitler announced the ‘Anschluss’ of Austria in 1938. Just a few months later, the Mauthausen concentration camp, the first concentration camp on Austrian soil, went into operation.