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After the Exhibition is Before the Exhibition

“Snip it!” as Follow-up to the Exhibition “The Whole Truth”

Our exhibition entitled The whole truth… everything you always wanted to know about Jews ended more than a year ago. Besides the animated discussions and empty display cases, there are thousands of pink post-it notes left over. Visitors stuck their questions, commentary, and impressions on a concrete wall after they went through the exhibition and left the museum.

A kind of analog “facebook” arose out of these contributions, above and beyond the contents of the exhibition itself. Visitors commented on each others’ notes and raised new questions: on the history of Jews in Germany, on the conflict in the Middle East, on the relationship between Christianity and Judaism, and – again and again – on the subject of circumcision. At this point, the Jewish Museum Berlin had already decided to dedicate not just another blog post to the contentious topic (as part of the series “Question of the month”), but an entire new exhibition.

We recall: in May of 2012 a district court in Cologne handed down a controversial ruling, declaring the ritual circumcision of boys by a doctor to be an infliction of bodily harm according to the criminal code. The court’s decision unleashed a broad public debate: what is religious freedom? Who determines what a child’s wellbeing is? How much disagreement can a secular society tolerate? Who is the “we” and who is the “you”?

Wall full of pink sticky notes

A wall full of questions at the exhibition The whole truth; Jewish Museum Berlin, photo: Thomas Valentin Harb

Close-up view of a grey wall with pink notes

Questions and commetaries about circumcision; Jewish Museum Berlin, photo: Martina Lüdicke

In our new exhibition Snip it! Stances on ritual circumcision we take this as our starting point, examining the question of what this ritual means from the perspective of the three monotheistic religions. To do this we are using the classic resources of a cultural-historical exhibition: painting, sculpture, and photographs, together with everyday objects and those associated with this ritual, as well as a whole series of film clips.

In preparation, we also took another look at the post-it notes with questions about circumcision. Starting from 23. October 2014, you can visit the exhibition rooms and learn why circumcision has played such a central role in Jewish tradition. The question of why Prince Charles is circumcised remains, however, unanswered.

Martina Lüdicke, Special Exhibitions

Citation recommendation:

Martina Lüdicke (2014), After the Exhibition is Before the Exhibition. “Snip it!” as Follow-up to the Exhibition “The Whole Truth”.
URL: www.jmberlin.de/en/node/6427

Behind the Scenes: Entries on the Exhibition “The Whole Truth” (7)

  • Entries on the Exhibition “The Whole Truth”

    What obstacles had to be overcome to open the exhibition The Whole Truth (2013), how it felt as a Jew to sit in a glass case in the exhibition, how visitors reacted, what further things developed out of the exhibition...

  • The curator Michal Friedlander lying on a showcase.

    Trials of a Truth Seeker

    Michal Friedlander on the countdown before the opening of the exhibition The Whole Truth

    Behind the Scenes
    2013

  • The empty chair during the shooting between two spotlights and behind a camera.

    Ask the Rabbi

    Martina Lüdicke about the shooting of the film installation in the exhibition The Whole Truth

    Report
    2013

  • A woman stands at the opening of a showcase and talks to a crowd of visitors.

    In the Showcase

    Olga Mannheimer about her experiences in the exhibition The Whole Truth

    Report
    2013

  • A woman sitting on a bench in a vitreous showcase open at the front.

    From Wagner to the Weather

    Signe Rossbach about her two hours as a living exhibition object in the show The Whole Truth

    Report
    2013

  • Magazine cover with a portrait of Marilyn Monroe and the title "marilyn enters a Jewish family".

    Conversion and Controversy

    Naomi Lubrich on the new interest in this topic and on religious loyalty

    Essay
    2013

  • Five pillars with the inscriptions: "business savy?", "fond of animals?", "influential?", "intelligent?", "beautiful?"

    The Whole Truth: a Continuing Discussion

    Guide Marc Wrasse about group discussions in the exhibition

    Essay
    2013

  • Close-up view of a grey wall with pink notes.

    After the Exhibition is Before the Exhibition

    Martina Lüdicke on the decision to dedicate a separate exhibition to questions of circumcision

    Behind the Scenes
    2014

Behind the Scenes: Entries on the Exhibition “Snip it! Stances on Circumcision” (9)

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