What happens when an exhibition comes about with the participation of many?

In April 2017, a cooperative project with the artists’ collective SIDEviews generated the idea of developing an exhibition with the participation of young people. Students from the Refik Veseli School in the Kreuzberg district of Berlin had already explored the Jewish Museum as part of the project “VOIDS.­Museum­VerLernen” (VOIDS.­Museum­UnLearn), suggesting how to make a museum attractive and relevant for youngsters. Their ideas and reflections flowed into our exhibition and can be seen in the form of an artistic video commentary.

“Who’s speaking about whom here?” That question is particularly pressing for an exhibition about the present day, where there is a special risk of repeating stereotypes or presenting one-sided perspectives. Apart from the voices of the museum personnel and the commentaries of the young people, the exhibition therefore also—and primarily—gives a say to the people who actually make up the Jewish present.

That includes the young Israelis who left their home country for all sorts of reasons and are now building a new life in Germany, especially in Berlin, as well as the families of refugees who left the Soviet Union mainly in the 1990s under the quota system and contributed to a radical transformation of Germany’s Jewish communities. It also includes artistic positions such as the “Desintegration” (Disintegration) initiative at the Maxim Gorki Theatre, in which young Jews try to redefine their relationship with Germany. They refuse to be defined solely by the coordinates of Shoah, antisemitism, and Israel. Their provocative statements force both Jewish and non-Jewish visitors to reflect on habitual, ingrained ideas.

A Is for Jewish presents the diversity of Jewish identities and everyday realities in Germany. In the exhibition, the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet draw attention to present-day Jewish positions. Twenty-two spotlights describe everyday life as it is lived by Jews both secular and religious, newly arrived and long established in Germany: from music and memory cultures (via traditions, linguistic diversity, and youth culture) to artistic interventions. The objective is to portray Jewish life from the turn of the twenty-first century onward—18 years of the present, experienced in all its multiplicity and contradictions.

During the exhibition’s run, we will also include a performance stage for the young participants, and a space for the Jewish present day in Germany to be debated as part of our accompanying program.

A Is for Jewish offers a multiplicity of voices, food for thought, plenty of fun, a little irony, perhaps occasionally a more reflective moment. And what about the young people? They asked for a chill-out corner with a sofa as a place for their questions, an open space for conversation and discussions. For a museum, that itself may be a revolution.

This article was first published in 2018 in issue 19 of the print edition of the JMB Journal.