In early 2017, Sarah Maravetz and Gillian McCallion, students at Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) in the Master of Professional Studies in Information and Data Visualization were given data sets regarding the Łódź Ghetto and an assignment to design a data-based exhibit for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM).
As part of a residency at USHMM over five days in June 2017, they created a model and design plans with feedback from instructors and museum staff.
Over the next two years, the team from MICA met with the exhibitions team at USHMM who took on the task of building a larger model. A prototype of the exhibit was built and installed by the exhibition specialists at United States Holocaust Memorial Museum for the duration of July 2019.