Press Release, Wed 19 Oct 2022
Taking memories of his mother as his point of departure, the Israeli author Etgar Keret has written nine new short stories specifically for this exhibition, which will serve as their world premiere. With these short stories, Keret draws an explicit connection to the Jewish tradition of passing down memories from generation to generation. He recalls experiences he had with his mother, who was born in Poland in 1934, and recounts stories she told him as a child, including ordinary anecdotes but also traumatic wartime experiences and encounters with violence. The narrative voice alternates between the perspective of an adult and that of a child. Keret makes no claim that these literary writings depict reality or paint a complete picture of his mother. On the contrary, he emphasizes that such an attempt would be doomed to failure, and also wants the exhibition to illustrate the uncertain and fragmentary nature of his memory.
- Contact
-
Margret Karsch
Press Officer
T +49 (0)30 259 93 419
presse@jmberlin.de - Address
-
Jewish Museum Berlin Foundation
Lindenstraße 9–14
10969 Berlin
The short stories will be presented alongside objects from the JMB collection selected by Etgar Keret as well as two installations, a piece of video art, and illustrations created by contemporary artists in collaboration with the author. Etgar Keret aims to defy museumgoers’ expectations with this exhibition. He has no intention of imparting information or explaining anything to them, but instead hopes to share partial and unverifiable memories of his late mother with them. Through the interplay of memories, objects, and art installations, the exhibition will forge evocative spaces that stir up feelings and associations.
“The Jewish Museum Berlin wants its exhibitions to tell stories about Jewish life,”
says Hetty Berg, Director of the JMB, “and Etgar Keret is beyond doubt a master of storytelling. I am delighted that he has written short stories about his family specifically for the JMB, and has situated them in regard to objects from the collection. This encounter in the exhibition has been a very stimulating and inspiring experience for me personally, and I hope that visitors feel similarly and that they will all find their own very unique points of entry.”
Etgar Keret himself says that he wants the visitors to get a sense of his mother, but without them having any objective details about her. This way, he says, they will learn about her just as he did: “Instead of sharing her parents’ names or her date of birth in the exhibition, I want the visitors to know which part of her hand she would touch my face with, and what bedtime stories she would tell me each night. It should feel like kissing someone with your eyes closed: the sensation is clear, but cannot really be shared or completely articulated.”
All the stories will be available in the exhibition itself – and, after it opens, on the JMB website – in three languages, in both print and audio versions. Etgar Keret has recorded himself reading his pieces in Hebrew and English, and the award-winning writer Daniel Kehlmann has narrated the German translation. Kehlmann, a friend of Keret’s, will also participate in the exhibition’s accompanying event programming. The JMB will be hosting a discussion with them both, including a reading, on November 29, 2022. Two days prior, on 27 November 2022, Etgar Keret and his wife Shira Geffen will be present at the screening of the miniseries The Middleman (2019), which they co-wrote and co-directed. Two writing workshops incorporating an exhibition tour and lunch, on 20 November and 12 December, round out the accompanying program.
Exhibition dates: | 21 October 2022 to 5 February 2023 |
Location: | Jewish Museum Berlin, ground floor of Libeskind Building, Eric F. Ross Gallery |
Admission: | free, time ticket will be recommended |
Opening hours: | daily, 10 am to 7 pm |
Exhibition Inside Out – Etgar Keret: Features & Programs
- Exhibition Webpage
- Inside Out – Etgar Keret – 21 Oct 2022 to 19 Mar 2023
- Digital Content
- A Peculiar Kinship – Etgar Keret and Daniel Kehlmann in conversation, video recording of the event on 29 Nov 2022
- Accompanying Events
- Exhibition Opening – with Etgar Keret and JMB director Hetty Berg, 20 Oct 2022, in German and English
- Writing workshop On Mothers – with fixed dates, in German
- Writing workshop On Mothers – by appointment, in German
- Writing workshop On Mothers – for classes from grades 7 to 13, by appointment, in German
- Screening of The Middleman – Miniseries by Etgar Keret and Shira Geffen, 27 Nov 2022, in German
- See also
- Etgar Keret, author and screenwriter
Press Images

My Mother, Poland, ca. 1937; Etgar Keret
Download (ZIP / 0.39 MB)
Etgar Keret; photo: Lielle Sand
Download (ZIP / 0.78 MB)
Exhibition poster Inside Out - Etgar Keret; Jewish Museum Berlin, Layout: buerominimal
Download (ZIP / 0.56 MB)
View of the exhibition Inside Out - Etgar Keret; Jewish Museum Berlin, Photo: Roman März
Download (ZIP / 0.97 MB)
View of the exhibition Inside Out - Etgar Keret; Jewish Museum Berlin, Photo: Roman März
Download (ZIP / 0.80 MB)
View of the exhibition Inside Out - Etgar Keret; Jewish Museum Berlin, Photo: Roman März
Download (ZIP / 0.66 MB)
View of the exhibition Inside Out - Etgar Keret; Jewish Museum Berlin, Photo: Roman März
Download (ZIP / 0.78 MB)
View of the exhibition Inside Out - Etgar Keret; Jewish Museum Berlin, Photo: Roman März
Download (ZIP / 0.70 MB)
View of the exhibition Inside Out - Etgar Keret; Jewish Museum Berlin, Photo: Roman März
Download (ZIP / 0.89 MB)
View of the exhibition Inside Out - Etgar Keret; Jewish Museum Berlin, Photo: Roman März
Download (ZIP / 0.67 MB)
View of the exhibition Inside Out - Etgar Keret; Jewish Museum Berlin, Photo: Roman März
Download (ZIP / 0.91 MB)
View of the exhibition Inside Out - Etgar Keret; Jewish Museum Berlin, Photo: Roman März
Download (ZIP / 1.01 MB)