Catalogs

• Edited by Cilly Kugelmann
• 132 pages, over 80 color illustrations, hardcover
• Format: 21 x 22,5 cm
• Nicolai Verlag, 2005 (German language edition only)

This book examines the history of these holidays that recall the birth of Jesus and the rededication of the Temple, respectively, more than two thousand years ago. The authors investigate the holidays’ origins, their rituals and customs, and search out the cultural interrelations between both traditions.

Surprising and amusing, this book uses both kitsch and art to illustrate religious and secular aspects, and offers an insight into the rich and diverse developments, of the popular Christian and Jewish holidays.

• Published by the Jewish Museum Berlin
• 16 pages, approx. 15 illustrations
• Format: 14,5 x 21 cm
• Berlin 2003

In an area exceeding 600 m², the exhibit shows fourteen of his projects through models, design plans, sketches, films, photographs, and audio recordings. Daniel Libeskind's model for Ground Zero and the World Trade Center were on display for the first time in Germany. Alongside famous buildings including the Jewish Museum Berlin, the Felix Nussbaum Haus in Osnabrück, and the Imperial War Museum North in Manchester, the exhibition also presented less-publicized buildings such as the Atelier Weil on Mallorca as well as projects still at the planning stage like the "Musicon" concert hall in Bremen and the "Spiral" extension to the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. His competition entries to design Potsdamer Platz, Alexanderplatz, and the Sachsenhausen Memorial Site in Oranienburg were not destined to be realized, but reveal the architect's vision for Berlin and commemorative culture in Germany.

Daniel Libeskind the visionary, who continues to break ground through his multidisciplinary approach, inspired a new critical discourse in the architectural world. One important feature of his method is always posing counterpoints. Daniel Libeskind's philosophical approach connects architecture and city planning with their social function and develops them through constant dialogue. As a musician, he finds inspiration in the works of composers from Bach to Schoenberg and Messiaen and in fact even staged and designed an opera production for the first time in 2002:  "Saint Francois D'Assise" at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin. The cosmopolitan and bridge builder: Daniel Libeskind was born in Poland and grew up in Israel as well as the USA where he became a US citizen. He lived in Berlin for thirteen years and has recently moved with his wife, Nina, and daughter, Rachel, to New York.

• Published by the Jewish Museum Berlin
• 108 pages, over 60 color illustrations, paperback,
• Format: 24 x 22 cm
• Soprintendenza P.S.A.D. della Basilicata - Matera, Italy
  German-Italian catalog

Contributions by: Filippo Bubbico, Silvio Fagiolo, Cilly Kugelmann and Pia Vivarelli.

The Jewish Museum Berlin presented 60 works by the painter, author, and member of the Resistance movement, Carlo Levi. The exhibition was organized by the Fondazione Carlo Levi and the Jewish Museum Frankfurt to honor the painter's 100th birthday.

Throughout his lifetime, Carlo Levi was actively involved in the struggle against fascism which cost him several arrests and two years' exile. Political commitment and tireless efforts on behalf of impoverished farmers and laborers defined his life. Levi also dealt with these themes in his artistic works. Portraits of friends are also on display, among them famous personalities such as Frank Lloyd Wright, Ilja Ehrenburg, and Pablo Neruda.

• Published by the Jewish Museum Berlin
• approx. 110 pp., over 80 illustrations, paperback
• Format: 27 x 21 cm
• German-English catalog. Israel 2002

The projects have two things in common: the photographers who participated were Palestinians and Israelis and all pictures were taken with disposable cameras.

"The Pen-Pal Project," by Eytan Shouker & Eldad Cidor is based on the idea of creating a personal dialogue between Palestinian and Israeli youths with the help of a creative process. The artists distributed disposable cameras to a total of five hundred young people, who, after a short introduction to photography and composition, began documenting their immediate surroundings. The developed photographs were then returned to the participants in the form of postcards, together with the name and address of a pen pal who had been picked with the help of a questionnaire. For many participants it was the first attempt to take up friendly relations with their respective "enemy" - and this, directly, by circumventing both border guards and mediators.

In her project "Promised Land," which originated during the (still ongoing) Second Intifada in the summer of 2001, the artist Suzanna Lauterbach distributed disposable cameras randomly to Israelis and Palestinians of all age groups as well as to foreigners living in Israel. Their only instructions were to document whatever connotes the "promised land" for them personally today. A selection of these photographs and the texts of the participants about their own pictures offer surprising insights into the situation in Israel today.