Reflections on the Anthology “Jewish Topographies”
Artneuland is a home for Trialogues of image, word, and people, an artistic platform for the three monotheistic cultures. We would like to invite you to the launching of the book „Jewish Topographies - Visions of Space, Traditions of Place“ edited by Julia Brauch, Anna Lipphardt, and Alexandra Nocke on Thursday, February 26th, 2009 at 8pm in Artneuland e.V., Schumannstr. 18, Berlin.
Introduction by the editors of the book, Dr. Anna Lipphardt (University of Konstanz) and Dr. Alexandra Nocke (freelance curator and researcher in cultural studies).
Professor Dr. Leora Auslaender (University of Chicago) will reflect on space and place at the center of Jewish existence and the contribution of this new anthology.
Dr. Mimi Lipis (architect, artist and cultural studies scholar) will take you on a visual journey to symbolic Jewish houses.
Synopsis of the book
How have Jews experienced their environments and how have they engaged with specific places? How do Jewish spaces emerge, how are they contested, performed and used? With these questions in mind, this anthology focuses on the production of Jewish space and “lived Jewish spaces” and sheds light on their diversity, inter-connectedness and multi-dimensionality. By exploring historical and contemporary case studies from around the world, the essays collected here shift the temporal focus generally applied to Jewish civilization to a spatially oriented perspective. The reader encounters sites such as the gardens cultivated in the Ghettos during World War II, the Israeli development town of Netivot, Thornhill, an Orthodox suburb of Toronto, or new virtual sites of Jewish (Second) Life on the Internet, and learns about the Jewish landkentenish movement in Interwar Poland, the Jewish connection to the sea and the culinary landscapes of Russian Jews in New York. Employing an interdisciplinary approach, with a strong foothold in cultural history and cultural anthropology, this anthology introduces new methodological and conceptual perspectives to the study of Jewish civilization.
Reviews
„The spatial turn has taken a leap ahead in Jewish Topographies. Responding to a powerful historicist tradition in Jewish Studies, the contributors spatialize the historical narrative by exploring the creative and often conflict-filled production of Jewish spaces, places, and territorial identity. The viewpoint is decidedly global, insightfully contemporary, and refreshingly critical.“
Edward Soja, UCLA, USA
„Space is at the center of Jewish existence. Implicit in the historical wanderings through Diaspora is the yearning to place – lost, discovered, and constructed. By drawing upon classical theories and fresh new paradigms, this excellent volume demonstrates the intensity of the desire for place in Jewish societies and the ability of place to make time tangible.“
Dan Ben-Amos, University of Pennsylvania, USA
Ashgate will supply a book ordering form giving substantial reduction for the participants of the evening.
Our current exhibition „Art of Emergency“ will be opened until March 15th 2009.
Opening Hours of the Gallery:
Tuesday – Friday 11 h -19 h | Saturday 11 h -18 h | Sunday on demand
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