Is Everything Jewish Sad?

Die Presse, November 28, 2022

German original: https://www.diepresse.com/6221211/ist-alles-juedische-traurig

Is everything Jewish sad? The Jewish Museum Vienna is clearing up 100 misconceptions with an exhibition.

He was not yet 20 years old, but already an international pop star, when Justin Bieber visited the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam in 2013. Like many others, he signed the guest book. His entry, however, led to an outcry of indignation in the media at the time: "It was really inspiring to be able to be here. Anne was a great girl. Hopefully she would have been a Belieber ( note "Bieber fan")." The unanimous criticism of it: indecent, tasteless, tactless had been this entry.

In contrast, pop colleague Beyoncé's visit the following year was exemplary: she appeared in an inexpensive and understated pantsuit, wrote a respectful message in the guestbook and disappeared with her family without much media hype. She posted only one photo of her and her outfit at the Anne Frank House on Instagram. 45 minutes later, the suit from Topshop was sold out. So she had done everything right, showing the public how to behave as a celebrity in a memorial.

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"It's not only prejudices that make it difficult for majority and minority societies - in this case, non-Jews and Jews - to live together, it's also kitsch, romanticizations and misunderstandings that stand in the way of our togetherness," says Hannes Sulzenbacher, chief curator of the Jewish Museum of the City of Vienna, describing the starting point of the exhibition "100 Misconceptions About and Among Jews." One of these collective misconceptions is that "remembrance of the Holocaust must be discreet." This misconception is reified in the context of the exhibition by means of a work by the English artist Simon Fujiwara, "What Beyoncé wore to the Anne Frank House," for which he made a replica of the infamous pantsuit.

"The reception of these celebrity visits was no longer about Anne Frank or memorial culture, it was about perfect self-dramatization. About what I must wear and what is proper when I visit a memorial," Sulzenbacher says. A drumbeat. The exhibition, which will be on view beginning in late November, will also set the new tone for the museum's programming. Barbara Staudinger took over as director of the museum in July, and Hannes Sulzenbacher also took up his position as chief curator with her. "We are starting with a loud, provocative and cheeky exhibition that should also be noticed," says Sulzenbacher. The two came up with the concept and idea together, and the entire eight-person team at the museum curated it.

"Even clichés that are well-meaning make a conversation at eye level almost impossible. Many people don't even dare to refer to Jews as such any more, and they switch to 'Jewish people'. In the end, they remain only a projection surface, not a normal counterpart, always a "non-us, something foreign," according to Sulzenbacher. The Jewish Museum is now presenting an exhibition with a great deal of humor, irony and parodic elements, which is intended to challenge stereotypes. In a joint brainstorming session, the curating team collected a list of 100 misconceptions that Jewish people encounter in everyday life.

For example, "All Jews are smart thinkers or Nobel Prize winners," "As victims of discrimination and expulsion, Jews are better people," or "Everything Jewish is sad." Each thought is hung on a work of art, a historical object or simply "junk." The loans come from museums and private collections in Israel, the USA and Europe.

Ambiguous symbolism

One does not shy away from laughing at oneself. This can be seen particularly well in a cast-iron stove exhibited under the misconception that "the hexagram is an exclusively Jewish symbol". Historically, the Star of David was linked to the Jewish religion only very late, earlier it was also a symbol that was supposed to provide protection against demons; the South German brewers of the Middle Ages, in turn, used it as a guild sign.

The exhibited stove has the symbol engraved on its front and has been exhibited twice in the past in this museum as a Jewish object. Now, however, it turned out that although the stove comes from a prominent address in Leopoldstadt, the hexagram in this case was meant to represent a magical sign of protection against fire, not a religious symbol. "For me, this is an important point: we are part of this narrative.

Jews and Jewish museums in particular often contribute to perpetuating clichés and romanticization," says Sulzenbacher.

The exhibition is intended for all those who also want to have something to laugh about in a Jewish museum. By no means, however, should that mean that future exhibitions can't strike a more serious tone. "I see the mission of this museum as intervening in society with its themes and taking up political issues of the present day; at least that is my professional motivation," says Sulzenbacher. So the program preview can be awaited with excitement.

Info

"100 Misconceptions About and Among Jews." The exhibition opens on November 30 at the Jewish Museum Vienna.