Photo: Jewish Museum Hohenems

From the Jewish Museum Hohenems:

The history of Arab-Jewish culture(s) and coexistence goes back centuries, to the pre-Islamic tribal societies populating Arabia. A long history of relations – sometimes romanticized, sometimes forgotten, even repressed and demonized – is waiting to be discovered, such as Jewish life under the Islamic rule of what are now the Arab countries as well as on the Iberian Peninsula (al-Andalus), in the Ottoman Empire, and under the influence of European colonial interests.

The founding of the state of Israel in 1948, the expulsion of the Palestinians, the conflicts around decolonization and the independence of Arab states, Israel’s wars with its Arab neighbors and the, sometimes violently enforced mass emigration of the Jewish population from Arab countries, has meant Jewish-Muslim relations are now regarded by many in only oppositional terms. In Israel, Jews from the Arab world have, for a long time, been discriminated against as ‘Mizrahim.’ This in turn has become the impetus for some of them to begin re-evaluating Arab-Jewish history as an alternative to irreconcilable national ‘identities.’

Why is it so difficult to think of both nominations – Arab and Jewish – together, despite the rich and complex history of Arab-Jewish cultures and hybridity? Are they still able to coexist and entangle in today’s world – as components of a complex cultural manifestation?

The exhibition embarks on an exploration of such considerations in two ways: firstly, seven Jewish artists with (family) roots in Arab countries explore the question of Jewish identities in Islamic countries. They work in the context of memory and language, ideologies and Jewish religious thought, architecture, food, and music. Secondly, key historical moments paint a picture of Arab-Jewish encounters that can frequently be fruitful and productive, but due to persecution and discrimination is also one that is full of tension and conflict. At the same time, a completely different, an alternative Jewish history to that in Central Europe, and in Hohenems, is also created.

An exhibition of the Jewish Museum Hohenems

Participating artists
Eliyahu Fatal
Hori Izhaki
Dana Flora Levy
Dor Zlekha Levy
Joseph Sassoon Semah
Mona Yahia
Tamir Zadok

Staff
Concept
Boaz Levin (Berlin)
Curators
Anika Reichwald and Hanno Loewy (Hohenems)
Exhibition architecture and graphics
atelier stecher, Roland Stecher, Thomas Matt (Götzis)

Scientific research
Philomena Becke (Augsburg), Franziska Völlner und Tabita Pfleger (Hohenems)
Scientific consulting
Felicitas Heimann-Jelinek (Wien), Ghilad Shenhav und Ronny Vollandt (München)
Exhibit conservator
Raphael Einetter (Hohenems)

Outreach
Anita Niegelhell and Claudia Klammer (Hohenems)
Press and public relations
Birgit Sohler (Hohenems)

Office
Martina Steiner (Hohenems)
Translations
Sabine Bürger, Tim Beeby (Essen)

Exhibition installation
Dietmar Pöschko (Hohenems), Dietmar Pfanner (Andelsbuch)
Exhibition construction
Raidel Tischlerei (Mäder)
Clemens Märk GmbH & Co. KG (Hohenems)
blenke design (Hohenems)
Painting work
Malerwerkstätte Alfons Mathis (Hohenems)
Exhibition text and label production
Elograph (Röthis)
Printing materials
Druckerei Thurnher (Rankweil)

Media partners
ORF Ö1
Vorarlberger Nachrichten

Cover pictures (excerpts):
Exhibition theme “Yalla”
Dana Flora Levy: Fatherland Archives (2024)
Eli Petel: Hummus (2001-2003)