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Our GOLEM exhibition artists tell us what the mystical creature means to them

How did you first encounter the golem? What does the golem mean to you?
We asked some of the artists whose works are shown in our current exhibition (more about the exhibition on our website) these two questions.

Many of them had their first encounter with the golem as children or youths, for example through films by Paul Wegener (which you can learn more about in our online feature on the golem theme). Their interpretations of the golem today are manifold – Daniel Laufer compares the creation of a work of art to the creation of a golem; Mira Maylor, on the other hand, sees in the golem figure man’s eternal yearning for the sublime; and Joachim Seinfeld perceives the mystical creature as an “image of the good ideas that turn bad, which in the end is always due to man’s weakness.” See and hear for yourself:

Artists featured: Joshua Abarbanel, Jorge Gil, Mark Podwal, Joachim Seinfeld, Tobi Kahn, Daniel Laufer, Mira Maylor, and Krištof Kintera. The answers are in English, German, and Spanish with German subtitles, October 2016; Jewish Museum Berlin.