10. Manny (2025) – Ariane Schick

2025. Installation of carpet, table, overhead lamp, projection, and artist book 

Interrupting the gallery space with its vivid orange carpet, Ariane
Schick’s installation invites visitors into a snapshot of the life of
Emanuel Culman and his parents, Holocaust survivors Edith and
Emil Culman. Emanuel—known as ‘Manny’ to friends and family—lends
his name to the installation and its two parts: a book and a frame-by-frame animation. Contrasting in their approach to time, emotion, and form, the two works offer a complementary perspective on
intergenerational trauma. The installation is shaped in part by Schick’s
own family history as the descendant of Holocaust refugees.

Manny (book) is a tender and expansive portrait of a family, beginning
with Manny’s birth in 1945 and ending with his death. Across 750
pages, letters and notes between Manny and his parents trace
a lifelong bond—filled with love, frustration, humour, and longing.
Too vast to read straight through, the book invites quiet moments of
discovery, as readers encounter Manny’s voice in vivid, personal letters
sent from the U.S. to his parents in Leeds. Alongside these, Schick
includes a selection of photographs by Edith Culman. Hundreds of
such images, now held in the Holocaust Centre North Archive, depict
everyday life with warmth, humour, and a striking emotional sensitivity.

Superimposed onto Manny (book) is a frame-by-frame animation of
the same name. Inspired by a drawing from the Culman collection,
Schick brings to life an anthropomorphised 1970s American car, whose
shifting expressions—joy, love, confusion, sadness—play out as its
wheels continue to turn.

By focusing on the post-1945 lives of Edith, Emil, and Manny, Ariane
Schick invites us into a story of survival rarely told–a story that
celebrates ordinary and universal human experiences in the wake of
trauma and honours the lasting contributions to art, counterculture
and community made by Holocaust survivors.

With thanks to the Culman family who collection features in this work.
Courtesy of Holocaust Centre North Archive.