Obedience

This appeal from Saskia Boddeke and Peter Greenaway was started at the forefront of the exhibition.

The beginning of the exhibition forms a film installation in which children, teenagers, and young adults greet visitors with the words "I am Isaac" or "I am Ishmael." The talking faces should invite them to identify with the childlike protagonists of the biblical narrative.

On the walls of the exhibition rooms there are large-formatted projections of dance scenes with performers from the international dance company "Club Guy & Roni." The dance scenes each illuminate particular aspects of the biblical narrative.

A view into the white room God and the Angel; Jewish Museum Berlin, Photo: Yves Sucksdorff

Detailed view of the sculpture The Wings from the white room God and the Angel.
The Wings, Xooang Choi, 2008, Oil on synthetic resin, stainless steel; courtesy of Graywall and the artist.

The Room Sarah and Hagar was devoted to the mothers of Isaac and Ischmael; Jewish Museum Berlin, Photo: Yves Sucksdorff.

In the room The Ram Damien Hirst's Black Sheep with Golden Horns (2009) could be seen; Jewish Museum Berlin, Photo: Yves Sucksdorff.

The room The Binding makes reference to the so-called binding of Isaac; Jewish Museum Berlin, Photo: Yves Sucksdorff.

The interactive Video Box I am Isaac/Ismael offers visitors to the exhibition the opportunity to take up the position in front of the camera as Isaac or Ishmael themselves. The Video Box should, similar to the film installation at the beginning of the exhibition, encourage visitors to consider the biblical narrative from a new perspective – that of the child, who will become a victim. Peter Greenaway, Saskia Boddeke, and the Video Box, Jewish Museum Berlin, Photo: Yves Sucksdorff.

Recordings from exhibition visitors from the Video Box I am Isaac/Ismael; more recordings from the Video Box can be found on the
.