ENGLISH CORNER, CON LINDA JIMÉNEZ – This week’s trivia question:  What is the difference between a stand-alone online museum and a physical museum that can be visited online?

The YIVO Bruce and Francesca Cernia Slovin Online Museum was established in 2018 for the purpose of telling the story of Jewish life in Eastern Europe and Russia through YIVO’s world-renowned archival and library collections. By creating an interactive journey through Jewish history of Eastern Europe, the museum recreates and immerses the audience in this thriving civilization through the life story of a single individual.

The first exhibition, Beba Epstein: The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Girl, uses interactive storytelling to contextualize hundreds of artifacts from the YIVO archives, taking the user on a journey of discovery. It is based on the life of a young girl named Beba Epstein, born in Vilna, Poland (now Vilnius, Lithuania), in 1922, whose autobiography was discovered in 2017. The exhibition includes teaching materials and is available online without charge.

Karolina Ziulkoski is the Chief Curator of the YIVO Bruce and Francesca Cernia Slovin Online Museum.  She is a new media artist and designer. She holds a Master’s degree from the Interactive Telecommunications Program at NYU and bachelor’s degrees in Architecture and Advertising.  Karolina has developed interactive exhibitions for the American Museum of Natural History and is the creative director of the new Museum of Municipalities, which will open soon in Brasília, Brazil.  She was an adjunct professor at Rutgers University’s Visual-Design program and is currently a mentor at NEW INC, the New Museum’s incubator for art, technology and design in New York City. Karolina has received numerous awards for her work.