JMB opens anniversary exhibition

The Opposite of Now is the highlight of the JMB’s anniversary program. The art projects it showcases have all been developed especially for the anniversary exhibition – by Yael Bartana, Andrea Büttner, Chto Delat International, Arnold Dreyblatt, William Forsythe, Dana Kavelina, Alexander Kluge, Daniel Laufer, Ari Benjamin Meyers, Alona Rodeh, Eran Schaerf, and Dor Zlekha Levy. To spark their projects, the museum gave each artist a copy of a 1964 radio debate between Ernst Bloch and Theodor W. Adorno on the Possibilities of Utopia Today. Both philosophers were of Jewish descent and had to flee Germany to avoid persecution by the Nazis. Both agreed that the existing order must undergo a complete change. While we cannot completely “color in” a better alternative, we can sharpen our senses to better detect the direction in which it can be found.

The Opposite of Now takes on this reference to totality. The works investigate the idea of complete change as a subjective experience and a collective goal. Andrea Büttner, Arnold Dreyblatt, Alexander Kluge, and Daniel Laufer link their works to messianic traditions, to the concepts of return, hope, and redemption that in the Jewish experience has so often been entangled with adversity and persecution. Ari Benjamin Meyers reminds us that renewal is always possible. All of the singers in his Choir of the Time Astronauts are over the age of ninety. They will repeatedly rehearse in the exhibition space, always starting anew. Dana Kavelina from Ukraine, the Russian artists’ collective in exile Chto Delat International, and Dor Zlekha Levy and Yael Bartana from Israel reflect on the function of utopian thought in the midst of crisis. Eran Schaerf commemorates the writer Jacqueline Kahanoff and her idea of Levantinism, a forgotten model for the coexistence of majority and minority cultures on the Eastern shore of the Mediterranean, a model that can be recombined in any place. Finally, William Forsythe’s choreographic instructions demonstrate that it is unsettling to break with accustomed practices and often we fail, but it is nevertheless achievable by every one of us.

Hetty Berg, director of the JMB, says: “Our exhibition makes a clear statement about the relevance of artistic interventions for societal debates. The JMB is celebrating twenty-five years as a space for reflection and dialogue. The perspective of the Jewish minority, which over the course of history has had to withstand many unbearable present times, is one of the exhibition’s starting points. The Opposite of Now calls for a turnaround, an opposite, a better life for all.”

The exhibition opening this evening will include a speech by Wolfram Weimer, Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media. Ahead of the opening, Minister of State Wolfram Weimer said on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Jewish Museum Berlin: “Since its founding, the Jewish Museum Berlin has been one of the most important cultural institutions in our country: it is a place where we engage in dialogue, where we come together and where we learn. It is a place that is continually adapting to new realities and a place that shows how freedom and diversity are not a provocation, but rather the very foundations of an open society. How lucky we are that this institution has been with us for 25 years. Its work represents a significant contribution to the success of our shared project of a free and peaceful country.”

The exhibition was in large part made possible by the support of the German Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media and the FRIENDS OF THE JMB. Further support was provided by the Aventis Foundation, the Berliner Sparkasse, the foundation Stiftung am Grunewald, and Artis.

The catalogue The Opposite of Now (in German and English) will be published by Hirmer Verlag (280 pages, museum price: 39.90 euros, in stores: 45 euros. With contributions by Inke Arns, Hetty Berg, Diedrich Diederichsen, Sergio Edelsztein, Julia Friedrich, Shelley Harten, Mario Kramer, Yael Kupferberg, Elad Lapidot, Christoph Menke, David Riff, Benjamin Seroussi, Maayan Sheleff, Tal Sterngast, Joseph Vogl, and Cécile Wajsbrot.

The exhibition was curated by Julia Friedrich, Director of Collections and Exhibitions at JMB, and Shelley Harten, JMB Art Curator.