'Jew in Box' exhibit in Berlin triggers controversy

[cbayer]

Last edited Sun Mar 31, 2013, 12:08 PM - Edit history (1)

http://www.jpost.com/Jewish-World/Jewish-Features/Jew-in-Box-exhibit-in-Berlin-triggers-controversy-308206

By BENJAMIN WEINTHAL, JERUSALEM POST CORRESPONDENT
03/30/2013 21:34

Museum exhibit allows visitor to ask questions of Jewish participants who respond from inside glass booth.


Jew in a Box' exhibit at Berlin Museum. Photo: Courtesy Facebook

BERLIN –The Jewish Museum in Germany’s capital city Berlin triggered fierce criticism last week for its exhibit “The Whole Truth... everything you always wanted to know about Jews” because the installation encloses Jews in a glass box.

The publicly funded museum opened the exhibit as a provocatively pedagogical way of reaching non-Jewish visitors to explain the meaning of Jewishness and Judaism, according to the management of the museum.

The exhibit, however, has unleashed blow-back because it allegedly dehumanizes Jews.

The British Daily Mail quoted Eran Levy, an Israeli who lives in Berlin. “It’s a horrible thing to do – completely degrading and not helpful,” he said. He added “the Jewish Museum absolutely missed the point if they wanted to do anything to improve the relations between Germans and Jews.”

more at link

[Jim__]

1. Link?

[cbayer]

2. Oops! Sorry about that. I added it.

[Jim__]

3. Thanks.

[Jim__]

4. W Michael Blumnethal is the director of the museum.

Given that he is Jewish and that his family fled Germany just prior to WWII, it's safe to assume that it is not intended to be offensive.

[cbayer]

5. Definitely meant to be provocative, though.

[Jim__]

6. Art should provoke thought.

[cbayer]

7. Absolutely. I like it and think it would be fun just to observe for a few hours.

[pinto]

8. I love stuff like this. There was an earlier thread about art and religion. This includes culture

in the mix. I'm a fan of performance art pieces in general. Often challenging, sometimes tongue-in-cheek and always made as a brief or time-limited presentation.

Back in the early days of ACT-UP's die ins, outlining a person's prone body in chalk on a side walk, city plaza or street was a performance. They weren't meant to sit in the Louvre at some time. The ephemeral aspect was part and parcel of the art. In the morning city crews would routinely wash it away. Even though that was probably a usual part of their daily work, the power wash added to the picture.

[cbayer]

9. I remember the chalk marks in NYC, as well as some other things ACT UP did.

I also like some performance art, though I draw the line at the highly emo type.

[pinto]

10. What's emo?

I drew away from ACT UP after a while. They became caricatures of themselves, imo.
But I loved the early stuff. And that's a whole other topic.

In context of this group, I saw the growth of faith based groups stepping up to simply support PWA's, one on one, then moving on to advocate for state and federal recognition and some action. A lot of them made a significant difference in the big picture.

[cbayer]

11. Emo is overly emotional. For example, I really dislike pretty much

anything Yoko Ono has done.

Did you see "How to Survive a Plague"? Excellent documentary focusing on ACT UP. I think you sometimes need ice-breakers, like ACT UP, to get in people's faces and get their attention before the quieter, gentler agencies can step in.

The churches in New Orleans were critical in addressing the hands on needs of the AIDS population during the worst of it.

[pinto]

12. Yeah saw that. Good piece. I think they got it right.

[okasha]

13. Interesting.

A cross between performance art and installation.