Ofer Waldman

Where did the idea for your portrait’s staging and setting come from?

I came to Germany in 1999 as an orchestral musician. And because I often perceive engagement with Jewish-related themes as a kind of staging aimed at a non-Jewish German public, the theater – or in this case the opera – seemed like the most appropriate location for me to face Frédéric Brenner’s camera. The fact that I’m sitting in the audience and not on stage is, of course, one of the thought-provoking inversions that pervade Frédéric’s work.

How do you experience Jewish life in Berlin?

I experience Jewish life in Berlin through the eyes of those who are looking for that life, for its manifestations, for its political, cultural, and social expressions. At the same time, I experience Berlin as a resonant chamber in which all forms and expressions can be tried out, addressed, accepted, and again discarded, invented, and modified.

Describe your life in Berlin in three adjectives.

Free, reflective, searching.

What would your wish be for the future of Jewish life in Berlin?

My wish is for the diversity of Jewish life in Berlin – in fact, its sometimes sharp internal contradictions – to be celebrated and not perceived as threatening – neither by its protagonists nor by those who observe it.