27 April 2009

Ben Katchor: "Halftone Printing in the Yiddish Press and Other Objects of Idol Worship"
Talk in English with overheads, discussion with the artist led by Jens Balzer

In his talk, Ben Katchor elucidates the interdependency between the ostracism of idols in Jewish culture and modern printing and reproduction technology in the Jewish press of the 20th century. This is also the theme explored in his book "The Jew of New York" to come out in German published by avant-verlag in March 2009. Ben Katchor’s attention is focused on secondary information, on details. His sketched world creates a subtle shift that makes it a surreal but nonetheless familiar place.